The magazine of the european research area European Commission Copenhagen, a missed chance?

  www2.cnrs.fr/en/1587.htm

Remote tracking 

of gorillas

Some 700 mountain gorillas still 

inhabit our planet. Around half live 

in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable 

Forest, while the others are found 

in Rwanda and the Republic of 

Congo. In 2008, Bwindi and the 

nearby Mgahinga Gorilla National 

Park attracted 600 000 visitors. 

A critically endangered protected 

species, the gorillas represent 

a valuable tourism and financial 

resource, managed by the Uganda 

Wildlife Authority (UWA). The UWA 

ensures that the areas reserved for 

the gorillas are respected, collects 

fees from visitors to national gorilla 

parks and redistributes part of its 

earnings to the local population, 

by providing support to schools, 

hospitals and small livestock 

farming and other activities.

To reach out to a wider audience, 

the UWA recently launched the 

website www.friendagorilla.org, 

where the stars are the gorillas. 

The site contains a raft of infor-

mation about their habits and 

distinctive characteristics com-

pared with other primates and, 

if you want to emulate the famous 

Diane Fossey, you can befriend 

a mountain gorilla or two. 

For the modest sum of USD 1 per 

year, web users can follow the 

movements of a small group of 

gorillas around the clock. Hidden 

cameras in the impenetrable forest 

track these nomads, which shelter 

in a different spot every night.

Although it will, of course, cost 

you a little more, you can travel 

to see the gorillas in person in 

the Mgahinga national parks. 

The parks’ trackers will show you 

how to spot them, but no one can 

guarantee that they will appear 

on cue. At least the spectacular 

scenery should go some way to 

soothing any frustration.