Are Mountain gorillas friendly to people?
Are Mountain gorillas friendly to people? : Mountain gorilla trekking is one the most exciting activities in the jungle where you get to trek and explore a mountainous forest in a bid to find the popular and endangered mountain gorillas. This is a challenging activity, so trekkers are usually advised to be prepared mentally and physically before they took on a trek. But other than that the thrilling and the feeling of surreal of being in the presence of the mountain gorillas for one full hour is unbeatable.
Most trekkers are so excited to meet the mountain gorillas they will not mind about how the gorillas will react towards them, they are just happy to be in the gorillas presence, however other people though excited will have questions about the gorillas and one of the top questions they ask is are mountain gorillas friendly to people?
Friendly is relative, if friendly to you means hugs, kisses and sharing chats together, then no mountain gorillas are not friendly but if friendly means peaceful and not attacking you then mountain gorillas are really friendly.
Mountain gorillas are peaceful animals they will not attack anyone or anything if they have not be irritated or poked. If you meet them and just go about your business that doesn’t affect them, you will come out of their presence well and unharmed.
On a mountain gorilla trekking experience, we are confident a mountain gorilla will not charge at you for as long as you stay poised and follow all the mountain gorilla trekking rules as communicated to you by your tour operator and the park authorities.
The top ten mountain gorilla trekking rules you should always remember include:-
- Not going for a mountain gorilla trek while you are ill or have any communicable disease. This because gorillas can easily get a disease from humans hence you can easily spread a disease to them. In this COVID-19 era you should have tested negative for COVID-19 at least 72 hours before your mountain gorilla trekking experience.
- When in the presence of mountain gorillas you will have to keep a 7 meter distance between you and the mountain gorilla.
- You should not feed the mountain gorillas.
- You shouldn’t eat in front of the mountain gorillas.
- You should not use flash photography to take pictures of the gorillas
- You shouldn’t make funny noises in front of the gorillas – noises like weird laughter, weird sounds or anything that may irritate the gorillas and cause it charge.
- You should not touch the mountain gorillas whatsoever even if they come close to you.
- You shouldn’t litter the mountain gorilla habitat
- You shouldn’t engage in any activity or thing that can cause harm to the mountain gorillas whatsoever
- In case you a gorilla charges at you, you should stand still and not do anything to aggravate the gorillas any further. Stand still and wait for help.
You can find mountain gorillas in Bwindi National Park and Mgahinga National Park in Uganda, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Uganda has the highest number of mountain gorillas – almost half the total number of the world’s mountain gorilla.
Mountain gorilla trekking in all these countries takes place every year all through the year but the peak seasons are usually the dry or sunny seasons in each country. Mountain gorilla trekking permits in Uganda cost USD 700, Rwanda cost USD 1500 and the Democratic Republic of Congo cost USD 400. All mountain gorilla trekking experiences are guided by mountain gorilla rangers.
