Kampala - The Uganda Wildlife Authority has announced plans to habituate two more mountain gorilla family groups in Bwindi National Park to keep up with a growing demand from tourists to the east African nation.
"With the number of foreign tourists steadily increasing, the present demand is greater than supply," the authority's spokesperson Lillian Nsubuga told AFP on Monday.
"The habituation process will be organised and conducted by our staff at UWA, and will take between one and two years," she added.
Four types of wild gorilla families have already been settled in Bwindi park, she said, adding that the new groups - the Ruhiija and Rushaga - are to be habituated this year.
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Mountain gorillas are naturally fearful of humans resulting in a lengthy habituation process for them to become accustomed to the presence of visitors.
Tracking the gorillas is a major source of income for tourism authorities with visitors paying $375 (about R2 800) for the chance to spend one hour in the presence of a family group.
Bwindi, or the Impenetrable Forest, in southwest Uganda is home to the majority of the country's rare and endangered mountain gorilla population.
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