Find out how gorillas are counted! - Uganda safari news

The most sought primates by tourists on Uganda safaris and Africa safaris, are mountain gorillas. Mountain Gorillas are endangered species but specifically found in three countries; Uganda Rwanda and Congo. An Africa gorilla safari to Uganda for a Uganda gorilla trekking safari, to Rwanda for a Rwanda gorilla trekking safari, or to Congo for a Congo gorilla trekking safari gives you chance to encounter with these majestic and most peaceful primates in the wild. Because these primates were once critically endangered species, they always under go a Census after every period of five (5) years in an attempt to ascertain their current population. In 2018, a census was made and they found out that these majestic primates had increased in number to about 1004 gorillas from 880. Uganda still holds it position of being home to half of the world's mountain gorillas and these can be found in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park Uganda and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park Uganda. Bwindi has about 17 habituated gorilla families while Mgahinga Gorilla National Park has only one habituated gorilla family.

How is a gorilla census carried out?

Unlike the humans who have got established settlements, the Mountain Gorillas thrive in dense forested habitats perched on high altitude hills and highlands which prompt some individuals including those on Uganda gorilla safaris to wonder how the Mountain gorilla census is carried out. Also if compared to other wildlife census which majorly feature identifying small areas for survey and then the few animals counted are multiplied proportionally based on the area size where such species reside, the Mountain Gorilla census stands as a rather a complicated and a time consuming activity. The Mountain Gorilla census do not include physically finding and counting each Mountain Gorilla but instead it features traversing the forest in quest of gorilla nest sites and trails. The gorilla forest is mapped into sectors which are thoroughly covered by the technical field assessors who are spaced to not more than 500m in between. For example, in the recently concluded Mountain Gorilla census in the Virunga volcanoes, a range of six (6) teams of field assessors were employed to traverse the massif on the side of Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo to gather the required data.

The Mountain Gorilla movements and structures are keenly followed to avoid double counting since they keep rotating in the forest. Some of the trails followed are among the ones used by travelers on gorilla trekking in Rwanda Uganda and Congo in search of these Great Apes. The trails followed are not more than five (5) days old and faecal samples are collected from the nests. Upon coming across Mountain Gorilla dung, the assessors measure its size which helps to ascertain the age class of the owner namely; Infants, Juvenile or Adult as it is believed that the larger the dung size, the older the gorilla. And the presence of Silver hair in the dung demonstrates that it must have come from a Silverback. But for further analysis, the dung is taken using wooden sticks and stored in a test tube awaiting a DNA test. The assessors have to put on gloves to avoid contaminating the dung with the DNA of humans. The collected samples are forwarded to the laboratory where the wildlife scientists analyse each of them and it is this process that ensures that every Mountain Gorilla is counted once. This is a long process that takes several months to accomplish which explains why we are still waiting for the results of the recently conducted Mountain Gorilla Census in the Virunga massif. Based on 2010 results, the Mountain Gorilla Population in the world is given at 880 individuals of which 400 of these were recorded to thrive in Uganda gorilla trekking safari tour destination of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the rest in the Virunga massif protected by Volcanoes National Park on the Rwandan side, Virunga National Park on the side of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park on the side of Uganda.