Gorillas in the midst - 14th January 2022

Successfully brought back from the brink of extinction in the 1980s, when a mere 100 wild specimens remained, now over 1,000 mountain gorillas inhabit Africa's Virunga Mountains.

While we celebrate this achievement, the national parks which provide habitats to these majestic primates across Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are feeling the pinch. Parks such as the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda have seen their territories slashed as the gorilla numbers have recovered.

The park's chief warden is Prosper Uwingeli.

Prosper Uwingeli: "We have seen challenges, and the challenges of the habitat. Because in the past 60, 50 years, the park lost 54 percent of the size of the park. And when our effort were put in a place to – for the mountain gorilla population to, to recover to the current numbers, you know, the habitat has not changed."

These demands on space and resources have resulted in aggressive encounters between different gorilla bands, which often leave both silverbacks and infant gorillas fatally injured. Felix Ndagjimana runs Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund's Rwandan research centre.

Felix Ndagijimana: "The interactions themselves changed in the sense that they became very violent, and during this period, we recorded seven silverbacks' death. So that's again is a consequence of more groups ranging in the same area – really not expanding and going to, to the rest of the park. And that leading to more intergroup interactions, and then more infanticides."

Providing invaluable funding for primate conservation, tourism's also responsible for gorillas' waning fear of people. Confident to roam inhabited areas while seeking out food, gorillas risk contracting human diseases, including flu and Ebola, to which they lack any immunity. As a result, expanding Volcanoes National Park will mean relocating some communities.

Offsetting this hardship, a compensation fund ploughs 10 percent of gorilla tourism revenues back into the local projects, supporting farmers, constructing schools and combatting poaching. The hoped for result is to affect change in how gorillas are perceived: no longer wild jungle beasts, but partners in local people's financial wellbeing.