GORILLAS in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in western Uganda have given birth to 13 babies in about a year. Park officials said the latest birth occurred about two weeks ago in one of the three habituated groups at Buhoma known as Mubare.

Apart from Mubare, which has three babies, Habinyanja and rushegura, the other two gorilla families of Bwindi, each have five babies.

The officilas also said a naming ceremony was underway to ensure monitoring of the apes and to popularise gorilla tourism.

Bwindi has more than half the population of the endangered Mountain gorilla population, estimated at about 750 globally and is a top tourism destination in the world with four families of habituated gorillas ready for tracking with each family taking a maximum of eight vistors per day throughout the year!

Other gorillas live in the Virunga Mountains that forms part of Uganda (Mgahinga), Rwanda and the congo.

The Queen Of Buganda Nabagereka Sylvia nagginda, who viewed the Mubare group last week, is one of the high-profile Ugandan trackers of gorillas.

The senior Tour guide for Abacus African Vacations a premier safari Company in uganda asked Nagginda to convince the Kabaka to visit the gorillas and do other uganda safaris.

President Yoweri museveni and Bill Gates, the US-based Microsoft mogul, are some of the high-profile persons that have tracked the gorillas.The president has on several occassions gone on a safari in Uganda.

Uganda Wildlife authority (UWA) spokesperson Lillian Nsubuga said about 11,000 permits would be issued in a year to gorilla viewers.

Another baby in the Rushegura group was produced in April, said James Busiku, UWA’s official at Bwindi. Other babies were born earlier this year

The marketing manager of www.abacusvacations.com said that,where as the gorillas have made Uganda a top destination in africa,uganda’s beauty as a whole makes it a real pearl of africa that cannot be compared to any african safari destination.He further explained that their company offers wildlife safaris to uganda,kenya,tanzania,rwanda and Botswana but they have found Uganda a unique safari destination for their clients.

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