African Primates

Africa is one of the major interesting destination to visit though it looks as the dark continent into the eyes of many people from the western countries, however  Africa’s uniqueness is reflected in a number of interesting features and wonders that are associated with this iconic part of the planet earth “Africa’  next to Africa being the wildlife destinations, it’s too still being looked at as the primates territory, whoever thinks of going on an African safari, he thinks of Kruger national park south Africa, Serengeti national park in Tanzania and Ngorongoro , Masai mala national park in Kenya,  but am sure to no tourist trip to  Africa can be complete without a visit to endangered mountain gorillas in virunga massif ( virunga massif comprises of the 3 national park that replaced the oldest Albert national park in Congo DRC the greater Zaire,  but now the park was subdivided into 3 major parks know as , Volcanoes national park, Mgahinga national park and Virunga national park.

There 4 major primates species found in Africa , and they all share 97% human DNA test , that means it’s our responsibilities to save our closest apes  before their extinction , once a specie is lost, its lost for good, the major cause for this has been due to increased human activities that has let too much pressure and completion between humans and the scarce resources that is happen on our continent Africa

Bonobos in Central DRC

 Bonobo, these are one of our closest ancestors almost who shares 98.7% human, they are only and only found in Congo basin, these apes share unique feature which almost differentiated them slightly from humans, bonobos are proved to be among the peaceful apes where any grudge in the society can be amicably solved with single dose of sex , scientifically sex acts as a coolant to the calm down the situation almost the same way how married couple could solve bed affairs and this way life could come back to normal, these guys have gone far to be wise in such way that females are the dominant leaders in the societies which means there will be endless peace in the ecosystem unlike human who are always at war due to greedy  for power and never been contented with the little that humans have thus giving a big thumb to the bonobos, infants which is the opposite among the mountain gorillas where only the dominant male silver back is the leader of the group and owns sole ownership of all females in the group. This has been not the case with the bonobos given the case of how things are done  in the animal book of the farm ”the big ones survive” the gestation period of bonobos is 240 days equivalent to 34 weeks/8month compared to 280 days which is 9 moths, this justify the remaining small difference in percentage between humans and Bonobos but all in the family of primates since they all have same features of primates such as , 5 comprehensive hands and feet, brain, shoulders,  hips and bonobos can live up to 40 years.

Chimpanzees

This is another sub species of primates that share the close DNA as humans, chimpanzees are graded as among the endangered species by IUCN, because if their scarcity due to many humans trafficking with an intention of keeping them as pets and the desire for money, more credit efforts has been given to Jane goodall for her work towards saving the endangered primates in their wilderness, her institute at Gombe national park in Tanzania and Ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary , chimpanzees are spread in many places in Africa  like , Kibale forest national park, Budongo forest part of Murchison falls national park,  virunga national park kyambura gorge ,Mikeno sector part of virunga national park, Nyungwe forest national park. chimpanzees are known to be well interacting and they live in big numbers, chimps eat almost everything that humans eat, their life is entirely live on insects, fruits, ants and meat from black and white colobus monkeys which is their favorite meat next to tree fruits. Chimpanzees can live up to 50 years, they have a highest level of socialization where the group is headed by the alpha male , the biggest group can reach up to 30 chimps, hunting is done jointly  as group. Chimpanzee each maturity at age of 13 years, and only a single baby is born. Jane goodall has made the life of chimpanzees common into the eyes of many primatologists,  whoever traveled to Uganda can miss going on either normal chimpanzee trekking in kibale forest national park, the trekking ticket cost $150 while  chimpanzee habituation experience cost $220

A big thumb goes to Jane goodall and her efforts to save chimpanzees in Africa. unlike their counterpart the bonobos, chimpanzees and bonobos are difficult to track since they can move for long distances through tree to tree without touching the ground in search for food though they both make nests every day by 6:00pm, they begin to make nests where they can spend the night, nests are built in the tree branches which acts as comfortable bed which is made up of leaves and small tree branches, unlike the gorillas which make nests on the ground.

Gorillas

Gorillas are classified into 3 sub species these include the mountain gorillas beringei beringei, western Low land gorillas,(gorilla gorilla)cross river gorilla(beringei brauei, these gorillas are spread across west Africa through Low land gorillas are found across Congo DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon , it has been difficult to estimate the number of low land gorillas due to their habitat being dense and less accessible to gorilla doctors who normally curry out gorilla census. Gorillas have been ranked among the endangered species by IUCN of which this body calls every ones efforts towards saving the lives of the great apes, basing on the recent census there’s over 798 mountain gorillas left in the world from the recent census done by gorilla doctors the major threats to mountain gorillas has been largely from human activities due to competition for land for agriculture that has led to too loss of the habitat.

Man has gone ahead to put up measures to increase sustainability of mountain gorillas in their natural habitat, by setting up several organizations which are playing key role to ensue there’s harmony and continued support of mountain gorillas. In the process to conserve mountain gorillas, humans as the cleverest among apes have gone ahead to save their ancestors or close relatives by setting up various measures through which some revenue raised. Among these is through gorilla trekking as well as setting up carrying capacity measures.

Classic gorilla trekking options

Short gorilla trekking

While going on gorilla trek, there several options that arise after the organizers realized the challenges that are associated with gorilla trekking , These uniforms rules are derived from the various questions that most clients come up with. We offer a range of options for trekking the classic easy trek. You can choose to go for the easiest trek, this is normally designed for elderly people, those with flights that same day and trekking can range between 1-2 hours and those with mobility issues,to join other trekkers in an easy group at times on special requests, we can arrange a private exclusive trek for you.

medium gorilla trekking

With this option, the difference is in the walking/trekking distance and terrain where to get to find the gorillas.Gorillas are mostly sighted around 2400m-3400m as the case for trekking in volcanoes park.The medium trek goes for about 3-4 hours to get to where the gorillas live or are but still after finding the gorillas, still you have to continue walking with gorillas until one hour is over so some level of fitness may be required to coup up with the speed of gorillas , in gorilla trekking there is no exclusive gorilla trekking unless on buys all the recommended carrying capacity in a group 8 permits , otherwise the trekking will be mixed up with other people from different companies, nationalities.

Long gorilla trek

You’re all advised to note if you wish to join a trek that’s is long trek, means those who op to go on such trek must be in perfect state to go hike across up trails and down trails and one must be in perfect state this is majorly for strong and young people who can walk for many hours in the jungle gorilla trekking is different since every day is a different experience depending on the place, weather of the day and location where you find the gorillas.