(credit of image above: Ian Markham; instagram: @wildhopecollective, @ianwildhope)
Mountain gorillas are on the brink of extinction with around 1,000 animals left in the wild. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is one of the few protected habitats for mountain gorilla populations.
Fortunately, conservation efforts have been helping to protect them from poaching and deforestation, but they continue to need help to survive and thrive. Currently, there is evidence that the growth of gorilla populations is slowing down due to the lack of sufficient habitat. Once a certain population density is reached, there is more risk for increased infectious diseases (especially parasitic diseases) and also conflict between families.
In addition to working with the local communities on conservation efforts to reduce poaching and deforestation, our hope is that we can even take it a step further, by REFORESTATION, to convert some of the agricultural land that is immediately adjacent to the National Park to large native forest, so it can work as a buffer zone. In addition to helping gorillas, these conservation efforts can also benefit many other species that are threatened.
“Bwindi hosts numerous globally threatened species including high-profile mammals such as mountain gorilla, chimpanzee, l’Hoest’s monkey and African elephant; birds such as African green broadbill, Grauer’s swamp warbler, Turner’s Eremomela, Chapin’s flycatcher and Shelley’s crimson-wing; and butterflies such as African giant swallowtail and Cream-banded swallowtail. ” (Reference: UNESCO, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/682).
We made a first start by completing the purchase of a 3 acre farm land adjacent to the park. The history of this is that we were notified in 2021 that an old local farmer who owned this land, wanted to sell it. It was known that gorillas regularly leave the forest to hang out on this land, so we felt that this was a unique opportunity. We did fundraising and completed the purchase in 2022.
As a humble source of some income, we completed construction of the Sahaya Rafiki guesthouse at one corner. Non-native trees were removed, and young native trees were planted on the rest of the land. Gorilla families have been visiting this land surrounding the guesthouse regularly (usually every few weeks). Because of the frequency of these visits, we decided not to build further structures on this land. You can see pictures and videos here below and also on the page of the Sahaya Rafiki guesthouse.
In 2023, a family that owns the 2.1 hectares (5 acres) adjacent to our current land contacted us and offered us to also purchase their land. This would be prime habitat for reforestation and habitat expansion! The price was approximately $157,000 (US dollars). Thanks to fundraising, we were able to raise all the funds and complete the purchase in 2025.
So we have currently 8 acres of land available for our programs!
Reforestation in progress! Click on each pic below to see an enlarged version
In addition to doing reforestation, we want to take advantage of the fact that gorillas often visit here. We hope to build some trails, and potentially also one or more observation decks. The main goal of this observation deck is to allow local people, including classes of school children, to be able to view gorilla families (either directly or via binoculars) whenever the gorillas leave the park and are spending time at this land. When no gorillas are present on this land, then this land can also be used for walking tours with the classes and tourists to teach them about various plants and other animals of the forest. Our goal is to have trained local people, including Batwa youth, be in charge of these tours. Tourists would pay a fee that would go towards supporting the batwa communities.
All these activities are coordinated with the staff of the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA). Tourists would not be allowed to do trekking on the land when gorillas are present unless if they are part of an official gorilla trekking group with UWA permit. In fact, when gorillas are on the land, UWA brings groups of tourists here as part of official gorilla trekking.
Now the next steps for which we are raising funds are:
- Reforestation: while the initial 3 acres is converting quite rapidly into forest, the newly purchased 5 acres would benefit from planting seedlings of native trees and bushes that would constitute a healthy forest.
- Construction of walking trails and a few observation decks at strategic locations.
Will you help us? Any donation, of any amount will help us reach the goal. If you plan to make a large donation, we can publicly recognize your donation and for example include your name in the name of this protected area, or name a building after you or a loved one you like to honor.
If we raise more than our current target for the purchase of the land, we will use it towards the observation deck(s) and/or explore purchasing additional land adjacent to the park to further expand the program.
How to support:
You can donate online via the donate button below. Or if you like to prefer to avoid any credit card transaction fees, you can donate by check, made payable to “Sahaya International”, with mention “gorilla habitat” and mail it to Sahaya International, 1504 Portola Street, Davis, CA 95616.
Here are a few images describing the land. Click on individual pictures to see an enlarged version.
This video below was made by Ian Markham (follow him on instagram at @ianwildhope and @ianwildhope).
A clip of the Rushegura family crossing the stream in front of the Sahaya Rafiki guesthouse (May 14, 2022), taken by Mushamba Moses.
Here are some pictures of mountain gorillas, contributed by generous photographers. Click the picture to see an enlarged version.
This gallery below has photographs by Ian Markham (follow him on instagram at @ianwildhope and @ianwildhope). Click on individual pictures to see an enlarged version.
