A new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, declared on 15 May, has put a spotlight on one of Africa’s most precious wildlife populations: the mountain gorillas of the Virunga massif. By 10 June, health authorities had confirmed 676 human cases and 136 deaths in eastern DRC, with a smaller cluster across the border in Uganda. So far — and this is the key point for travellers — there are no reported cases in any gorilla population, and the trekking parks remain open.
The concern is spillover. Past outbreaks devastated western lowland gorillas in Central Africa, and modelling suggests that if even one of the roughly 1,000 mountain gorillas in Virunga and Uganda’s Bwindi were infected, the consequences could be catastrophic. Researchers stress the current risk to eastern gorillas is “quite limited” — the outbreak area doesn’t overlap gorilla habitat, and gorilla densities there are low — but vigilance is high.
For anyone planning to trek in Rwanda’s Volcanoes or Uganda’s Bwindi, this is the clearest reminder yet of why the rules exist: keep the mandated 7-metre distance, wear your mask, and respect the one-hour limit. They aren’t bureaucracy — they’re what keeps a fragile, irreplaceable population safe.
25South 
Leave a comment