There are signs that this may already be happening. Revenue for 1996 has not been dispersed because UWA is short of cash following rebel activity in western Uganda which caused tourist numbers to drop country-wide. The most damming criticism, however, comes from primatologists, some of whom think gorilla tourism endangers the creatures it is claiming to protect. Dr Tom Butinski, a senior conservation biologist specializing in African primates, believes that lack of research on the impact of tourism on gorillas means they are being put at an unjustifiable risk. There has been almost no research in Bwindi.
Gorillas are susceptible to new diseases.
Financial pressures may also wear down conservationists' good intentions. Following the break-up of one of Bwindi's two habituated groups, UWA decided to habituate two more. The same insidious process in Rwanda led to 70 per cent of the gorillas being habituated. UWA are under pressure from tour operators and government to habituate even more gorillas. At the same time, some tourists complain that the gorillas are too docile.