Rwanda Gorillas making a comeback

Rwanda Gorillas making a comeback : With close to a million species now threatened with extinction, it’s not often you hear about a conservation success story. But the mountain gorillas of the East African nation of Rwanda are just that.

When American naturalist Dian Fossey moved to Rwanda half a century ago to study mountain gorillas, their numbers were dwindling, down to just 254 individuals, but today they’re up to over 600, with another 400 in neighboring Uganda — the only great ape whose numbers are actually on the rise. How they’ve done it? A joint effort by scientists and government to save gorillas and help the human communities around them, with a key role played by tourists, Rwanda Gorillas making a comeback.

These are the Virunga Volcanoes National Park, home to most of the world’s mountain gorillas. Dian Fossey aptly called them gorillas in the mist. But when the mist lifts, they are gorillas in the sun, doing what mountain gorillas do: eat, rest, eat some more and snuggle.