It can take several hours to reach the gorillas through the dense, mountainous jungle. Tourism generates a great deal of money for Rwanda, Uganda and Zaire and helps protect other species as well as the gorilla. Most zoos around the world have agreed not to purchase gorillas from the wild and participate in a worldwide captive breeding program designed to expand the existing captive population while maintaining a viable gene pool. The greatest threat to the long-term survival of gorillas is habitat encroachment. The human population explosion in Africa continues to create a need for more land to grow food and house people.
Gorillas have no place else to go.
They can adapt to no new way of life. Tourism has contributed greatly to saving gorillas, but the future is not at all certain. Struggle for Survival in the Virungas. Zoological Board of Victoria, Education Service. All about Gorillas and Other Rainforest Animals.