Uganda Launches Gorilla and Chimp Census in Bwindi.

The ‎Executive Director (UWA), Dr. James Musinguzi, has officially launched the Bwindi-Sarambwe mountain gorilla and the inaugural chimpanzee census 2025 at the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation (ITFC) in Ruhija, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

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‎Key partners, including the Rwanda Development Board, Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration, Jane Goodall Institute, WWF Uganda Country Office, Gorilla Doctors, and several other organizations, were in attendance. Dr. Musinguzi flagged off the census team during the launch ceremony.

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‎This is the 6th mountain gorilla census, with the first one conducted in 1997. The census is normally conducted every five years; the last one was in 2018 and recorded 459 mountain gorillas. The 2023 census was rescheduled to 2025 due to COVID-19.

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‎A team of over 60 trained personnel, 70% of whom are from UWA, will conduct the census using nest count and genetic analysis methods over two sweeps: the first concluding in June and the second in September.

‎Dr. Musinguzi thanked stakeholders for their collaboration, highlighting the census's importance for conservation efforts. He noted that apes are crucial for tourism, contributing over 60% of UWA's internally generated revenue, and informed the stakeholders that UWA is strengthening human and logistical capacity to reduce threats to the apes and other wildlife.