Gorilla Journal 39, December 2009
Gorilla Visits in Virunga National Park
Mountain gorilla tourism brings much needed revenue to the Virunga National
Park for the conservation effort - but it also brings the threat of disease.
Humans and gorillas share so much DNA, that we can easily pass on our
viruses and diseases to these animals that we are struggling to protect.
When a tourist, a ranger or anyone is visiting a family of gorillas, they
should stay at least 7 m away from the animals. But sometimes the gorillas
themselves, out of sheer mischief or curiosity, come closer.
So when we re-lauched tourism earlier this year, based on the advice of
MGVP (Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project), we asked tourists to
wear masks. It was a good decision. Tourists have been incredibly supportive
and recognize the importance of protecting the gorillas for generations
to come.
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Tourists in the Virunga National Park wearing masks Photo: www.gorilla.cd |
Eddy Mbuyi
This article was originally published in the blog
of the Virunga National Park on October 3th, 2009.
Tourism in the Virunga National Park was started again in May 2009. Until
October 23th more than 500 tourists had visited the park. Each person
pays US$ 400, of which 30% go to the communities surrounding the park,
20% is for conservation activities in Virunga National Park, and 50% go
to ICCN in Kinshasa.
Eddy Mbuyi studied biochemistry and IT. Currently he is working with the rangers of Virunga National Park and with the team running its website.