Gorilla tourism exists today because of research its own founder never actually wanted turned into an industry. The history of gorilla tourism runs from Dian Fossey’s fiercely protective research through a genocide that halted it entirely, to a modern trekking economy generating tens of billions of shillings a year and helping pull mountain gorillas back from the edge of extinction — a genuinely unlikely arc for a species that numbered barely 250 individuals within living memory.
Key Highlights
- Dian Fossey established the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains in 1967, but opposed turning gorilla research into tourism
- The first mountain gorilla trek took place in Rwanda in 1979, priced at 20 US dollars per person
- Uganda gazetted Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in 1991, with the first official tourist treks in 1993
- Rwanda’s gorilla tourism was completely halted during the 1994 genocide, resuming only in 1999
- Uganda’s annual gorilla trekking visitor numbers grew from roughly 3,000 in the 1990s to around 36,000 by 2020
- Mountain gorilla population has grown from around 254 individuals in 1981 to over 1,000 today, one of the few great ape success stories anywhere
Dian Fossey: Research, Not Tourism
Dian Fossey’s work at Karisoke, established in 1967 on the slopes of Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke in Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains, laid the entire scientific foundation that gorilla trekking would later be built on — the habituation techniques, the behavioural understanding, the basic case for why gorillas were worth protecting at all. What’s less widely known is that Fossey herself actively opposed opening gorilla research up to tourism, believing the animals needed protection from human disturbance rather than exposure to it. Our piece on gorilla evolution and habitats covers Fossey’s broader research legacy; this piece is specifically about how tourism developed after, and to some extent against, her original vision.
1979: The First Trek
Mountain gorilla trekking as a tourism activity began in Rwanda in 1979, conceived specifically as a conservation and education tool aimed at reducing poaching by giving local communities and visitors alike a direct, positive reason to value living gorillas. The earliest treks were tightly restricted, small groups limited to six visitors, a single hour with the gorillas, at a price of just 20 US dollars per person — a structure that, in its basic shape of small groups and a strict one-hour limit, has remained remarkably consistent even as the price has grown roughly seventy-fold since.
Uganda Enters the Picture
Uganda’s gorilla tourism industry began later than Rwanda’s, with Bwindi Impenetrable National Park formally gazetted in 1991 and the first officially organised tourist treks taking place in 1993, backed by newly established Uganda Wildlife Authority anti-poaching units and ranger patrols protecting the park’s habituating gorilla families. Uganda’s early permit pricing, around 360 US dollars per person, has since climbed considerably, reflecting both rising demand and the genuine cost of sustaining the conservation infrastructure behind it.
Interrupted by Genocide
Rwanda’s gorilla tourism industry, further along in its development through the early 1990s, was completely halted by the 1994 genocide, with Volcanoes National Park itself becoming caught up in the surrounding conflict and violence. Gorilla trekking didn’t resume in Rwanda until 1999, a five-year gap that represents one of the starkest examples of how directly gorilla tourism’s fortunes have been tied to the broader political stability of the countries hosting it, a pattern that has echoed since in the way ongoing instability in eastern DR Congo continues to affect gorilla tourism there today.
From Thousands to Tens of Thousands
Uganda’s annual gorilla trekking visitor numbers illustrate just how much the industry has grown: from roughly 3,000 visitors a year through the 1990s to approximately 36,000 by 2020, a more than tenfold increase reflecting both Uganda’s growing reputation as a trekking destination and the broader global growth in wildlife and experiential tourism over the same period. That growth has come with deliberate limits, though — permit numbers remain capped by daily family-visit quotas specifically to prevent this popularity from undermining the conservation goals the whole industry was built to serve.
A Genuine Conservation Success Story
Perhaps the most remarkable thread running through this history is the population recovery it has coincided with: mountain gorillas numbered as few as 254 individuals in 1981, a population trajectory that looked genuinely headed toward extinction, and have since recovered to over 1,000 individuals today, making mountain gorillas one of the only great ape populations anywhere in the world currently increasing rather than declining. Tourism revenue, and the community revenue-sharing schemes it funds, is widely credited as one of the central mechanisms behind that recovery. Our piece on how gorilla permit revenue is shared with local communities covers that mechanism in detail.
The Habituation Process: A Fossey Legacy That Outlasted Her Objections
The single technique that made gorilla tourism possible at all, gradual habituation of wild gorilla groups to human presence, traces directly back to Fossey’s own painstaking research methodology, developed over years of patient, repeated, non-threatening contact with individual gorilla families. That same process, refined and formalised, is what park authorities in Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo still use today to prepare a wild gorilla family for regular tourist visits, typically taking around two years of sustained daily contact before a group is considered ready. It’s a genuine irony worth sitting with: the woman most opposed to gorilla tourism developed the exact scientific method that made it viable.
Setbacks Beyond the 1994 Genocide
Rwanda’s genocide-era closure wasn’t gorilla tourism’s only major disruption. The global COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020 forced a complete, extended shutdown of gorilla trekking across all three range countries, a closure that starkly illustrated just how dependent both park conservation budgets and neighbouring community revenue-sharing schemes had become on steady tourist visitor numbers by that point. The industry’s relatively swift recovery once travel resumed demonstrated the underlying resilience of demand for gorilla trekking specifically, even as broader global tourism patterns shifted considerably in the pandemic’s aftermath.
Ongoing Instability in Eastern DR Congo
DR Congo’s Virunga National Park, home to its own population of habituated mountain gorillas, has faced the most severe and recurring disruptions of the three range countries, with periods of armed conflict repeatedly forcing extended tourism closures over the past two decades. This uneven history across the three countries is part of why Uganda and Rwanda have become the dominant, more consistently accessible gorilla trekking destinations for most international travellers, even though DR Congo holds genuine gorilla populations of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Would Dian Fossey approve of gorilla tourism today?
This remains genuinely debated among conservationists. Fossey’s own writings suggest deep skepticism toward tourism access, though many working in gorilla conservation today argue that regulated tourism revenue has done more for gorilla survival than pure research-based protection alone could have achieved.
Why did gorilla permit prices rise so dramatically over the decades?
Rising prices reflect both growing demand from international visitors and a deliberate strategy of using price, alongside strict daily permit caps, to limit visitor volume and protect gorillas from over-tourism, rather than pricing being driven by cost increases alone.
Has DR Congo’s gorilla tourism followed the same trajectory as Uganda and Rwanda?
Not exactly — DR Congo’s Virunga National Park has faced far more severe and prolonged instability, including recent conflict that has repeatedly closed the park to tourism entirely, giving its gorilla tourism history a considerably more interrupted arc than Uganda or Rwanda’s.
How does today’s one-hour trekking rule connect back to the 1979 original?
The one-hour limit has remained a consistent feature since those earliest 1979 treks, now grounded in specific disease-transmission and stress-related research rather than the more general precautionary instinct that shaped the original rule, though the underlying philosophy of minimal, controlled contact has stayed essentially unchanged across nearly five decades.
Recommended Safaris
Understanding this history adds real depth to a modern gorilla trekking trip. Our piece on gorilla permit revenue sharing covers the modern conservation-funding side of this story, and our gorilla evolution and habitats piece covers the deeper biological and research background. Ready to plan your own piece of this ongoing conservation story, nearly five decades after that first 1979 trek? Reach our team through our Book Now page and we’ll plan your gorilla trekking trip around your dates.
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