Why is gorilla trekking in Mgahinga national park expensive?

Why is gorilla trekking in Mgahinga national park expensive?: Gorilla trekking could be the most expensive safari activity in the world as of today. Mountain gorillas cannot survive in captivity and for this reason, travelers who want to see them can only see them in 4 national parks in the world. Mountain gorillas live in the thick vegetation cover of Mgahinga national park, Virunga national park, Volcanoes national park, and Bwindi impenetrable forest national park.

Mountain gorillas are some of the most endangered wildlife species in the world with about 1100 still surviving. Mountain gorillas were discovered to be close relatives to human beings with over 98% human DNA. The activity of gorilla trekking is loved by so many people even though it’s expensive and difficult. It’s always a dream come true for a traveler to meet endangered mountain gorillas in the wild.

Tourists feel happy once they locate a mountain gorilla family in the wild, spend time with the members studying about their behaviors and watch them carry out daily activities. It’s a very difficult activity, tourists get only 1 hour around the mountain gorillas, and it’s expensive but they will choose to do it over and over again after good savings.

For tourists that have been looking for why gorilla trekking is expensive, today you will leave when you have already gotten your answer. Yes, the gorilla trekking activity is expensive for reasons we are going to look at below but again it’s always worth the money. Tourists will leave the national park very happy and not complain about the money.

Why is gorilla trekking in Mgahinga national park expensive?

The gorilla trekking permits

What makes gorilla trekking so expensive are the mountain gorilla trekking permits. Like we all know a person must have a gorilla trekking permits if they want to see mountain gorillas in their natural habitats. The Mgahinga Gorilla trekking permits are expensive because the money collected is used for the conservation of mountain gorillas, paying workers, and much more.

The gorilla trekking permits are expensive and tourists do get it at $700 for foreign non-residents, $600 for foreign residents, and UGX250,000 for citizen tourists of East African member states. The high cost of gorilla tracking permits is the one that makes the gorilla trekking exercise very expensive.

The high cost of the lodges

Lodge owners in gorilla trekking national parks know that the tourists coming have money. They end up making accommodation facilities in the area expensive compared to other lodges in other national parks. With lodges being expensive, the gorilla trekking safari also becomes expensive in Mgahinga national park

The need for conservation

There is much need for conservation within the park to make sure that mountain gorillas survive. Mountain gorillas require a lot of attention and protection to survive in Mgahinga national park. There is a need to hire doctors who make sure the mountain gorillas are healthy, there is also a near for rangers who keep monitoring the mountain gorillas to know that they are safe. UWA also makes the communities around the park benefit from gorilla tourism and this in the end prevents poaching.

Limit human interference

A maximum number of 8 people does trek a mountain gorilla family in Mgahinga national park. This rule does apply in all national parks that harbor mountain gorillas and it was done so to limit the number of people visiting the mountain gorilla family. Not so many tourists can afford to pay about $700 for Mgahinga Gorilla trekking permits and this has helped to limit crowds. The limited number of people was not only done because the Mgahinga Gorilla trekking permits are expensive but to also reduce the transmission of diseases.

Need to support the communities around the park

Most of the people living around the national park are Batwa and these were forest dwellers who were chased out by the government at a time of gazetting the area as a national park. In order to promote sustainable gorilla conservation, Uganda Wildlife Authority has a percentage of revenue earned from selling gorilla permits money that goes to community projects.

The long distance to the park

Mgahinga national park is located far in southwestern Uganda and for tourists to access the park they need to use road transport that takes 9 to 10 hours or use flights. The distance from Kampala/Entebbe and Mgahinga national park is so long meaning a good safari car is used and a lot of fuel. If one opts to use air transport to reduce the time, it’s more expensive than even road transport. There for one of the things that make gorilla trekking in Mgahinga national park is the long distance to the park.

Scarcity of mountain gorillas

When something is scarce, there is normally a high demand and this leads to an increase in the price. We all know mountain gorillas are surviving in a few national parks Mgahinga inclusive. Ever since tourists discovered that they are close relatives to human beings they really want to visit them. An increase in the number of tourists forced UWA to increase the price of the permits and this in the end made gorilla trekking in the country expensive.