Human beings share over 98% of their DNA with humans making them vulnerable to many of the human diseases and the effects may be more disastrous to the primates than in humans. Primate tourism is currently the backbone of Uganda and Rwanda’s tourism industry attracting thousands of tourists from all parts of the world. There are Mountain Gorillas about only 1000 mountain Gorillas remaining in the world after a rigorous duty of 30 years’ conservation of these Gorillas. Uganda harbors more than half while the rest are distributed in Rwanda and DRC.
With the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic, the Gorillas and chimpanzees are in great danger of contracting the virus from the people who go to visit these primates in their natural habitat in the respective countries. Other than having to spread the virus to the primates, the locals with in the villages surrounding the primate habitats are in equal danger of contracting the virus. ‘the first country to respond to this outbreak was Rwanda who closed their primate tourism and the country’s borders to stop the spread of the disease to their primates. Uganda delayed a little but was later compelled to close its borders and limit movements of the citizens due to the quick spread of Covid19. Primate tourism was banned for some months but was late re-opened with standard operating procedures.
Rwanda and Uganda later re-opened their borders to travelers from abroad though the land borders remain closed. Primate tourism was reopened with guidelines from the government in order to keep the economy moving without causing much threat to the primates. Some of the guidelines include the following;
Rules for Chimpanzee and Gorilla Trekking during Covid 19 period
- Visitors coming into the country must present a negative covid19 test take 72 hours before arrival in Uganda.
- Visitors arriving at the airport will be subjected to a covid19 test paid for by themselves to ascertain the status of the incoming guests.
- Only two people are allowed to pick visitors at the airport to reduce on the numbers of people at the airport.
- Visitors are supposed to maintain a 10meter distance from the primates to avoid the possible spread of the virus to them.
- Tourists will illness like cough and flu are not allowed to engage in primate tourism.
- The staff on the park entrances have been properly trained on how to handle guests in a safe way and have been fully equipped with the necessary gear and items to fight the corona virus.
