Mountain Gorillas Before Conservation: How They Nearly Disappeared
Mountain Gorillas Before Conservation: Before conservation, mountain gorillas were almost unknown to the outside world, then hunted, collected and squeezed out of their forests, and by 1981 only about 250 were left in the Virunga volcanoes, which is why many experts predicted they would soon vanish.
Mountain gorillas were not described by science until 1902, when a German officer shot two of them on Mount Sabyinyo. Over the following decades they were killed for museum specimens, trophies and souvenirs, their infants were captured, their forests were cleared for farms, and they received almost no protection beyond a single park created in 1925.
Only after the Mountain Gorilla Project began in 1979, with protection, gorilla tourism and community education working together, did the decline reverse, and today around 1,063 mountain gorillas survive, one of the most remarkable conservation recoveries in the world.
This guide tells the full story of mountain gorillas before conservation: how they were discovered, what almost destroyed them, how low their numbers fell, who fought to save them, and how you can now see them on a gorilla trek in Rwanda.
Mountain Gorillas Before Conservation: A Timeline
| Period | What Happened |
|---|---|
| 1902 | German captain Robert von Beringe shoots two gorillas on Mount Sabyinyo; the mountain gorilla becomes known to science |
| 1903 | The new gorilla is formally named after von Beringe |
| 1921 | Naturalist Carl Akeley shoots gorillas, then becomes their advocate |
| 1925 | Albert National Park created, Africa’s first national park, banning gorilla hunting |
| 1959 to 1960 | George Schaller carries out the first scientific field study; he estimates about 450 gorillas in the Virunga region |
| 1960s and 1970s | Poaching, snares and habitat clearance push numbers down; censuses count around 275 |
| 1967 | Dian Fossey begins her long-term research that leads to Karisoke |
| Late 1970s | The killing of the silverback Digit by poachers brings global attention |
| 1979 | The Mountain Gorilla Project begins, linking protection, tourism and education |
| 1981 | Only about 250 mountain gorillas remain in the Virungas |
| 1985 | Dian Fossey is murdered at Karisoke |
| 1989 | A census finds about 324 in the Virungas and about 320 in Bwindi, 644 in total |
| 1991 | Bwindi and Mgahinga become national parks in Uganda |
| Today | About 1,063 mountain gorillas |
How Were Mountain Gorillas Discovered?
For most of history, mountain gorillas were hidden in the cold, misty forests of the Virunga volcanoes, living on slopes that few outsiders visited. On 17 October 1902, a German officer, Captain Robert von Beringe, reached the Virunga Mountains and shot two large apes near the summit of Mount Sabyinyo.
The animals turned out to be a new kind of gorilla. One was sent to the Zoological Museum in Berlin, and the species was soon named in his honour, which is why the eastern gorilla’s scientific name today includes beringei.
The discovery set off exactly the wrong kind of interest. European museums and collectors wanted specimens, and expeditions followed, and in the early twentieth century many gorillas were shot for science, trophies and display.
Hunting, Collecting and the Souvenir Trade
Before there were conservation rules, mountain gorillas were treated as prizes. They were:
- Shot for museum specimens. Early expeditions killed gorillas to fill museum collections, including the American naturalist Carl Akeley, who shot several in 1921.
- Killed as trophies. Their size and fearsome reputation made them targets for big-game hunters.
- Turned into souvenirs. Gorilla hands and heads were sold to tourists, and the demand gave poachers a reason to kill silverbacks, which are the family’s protectors.
- Captured as infants. Young gorillas were taken for zoos and private collections, and because a mother and the group will defend an infant, capture often meant killing several adults.
Mountain gorillas breed slowly, with long gaps between births, so every gorilla killed was very hard to replace.
Albert National Park: Africa’s First National Park
Akeley’s experience of shooting gorillas changed him. Struck by how gentle and intelligent they were, he campaigned for their protection and persuaded the Belgian government to act. In 1925, Albert National Park was created around the Virunga volcanoes, and it became Africa’s first national park, with hunting of gorillas and other wildlife prohibited.
The park was later enlarged and then divided as the region’s countries changed, so that the Rwandan part became Volcanoes National Park and the Congolese part became Virunga National Park.
It was a landmark, but a park on paper was not the same as protection on the ground. Enforcement was weak, the gorillas lived in a landscape under growing pressure, and the poaching and clearing continued.
George Schaller: The First Scientific Study
In 1959, the American zoologist George Schaller began the first systematic field study of mountain gorillas in the Virungas, living near them and observing their behaviour for months.
His work, published in a book in 1963, showed that gorillas were peaceful, family-centred vegetarians, not the savage monsters of popular myth. Schaller also counted them: he estimated about 450 mountain gorillas in the Virunga region in 1960. It was the first baseline anyone had, and it would soon look painfully high.
Why Mountain Gorilla Numbers Fell
Several threats combined in the decades before effective conservation:
Poaching and snares. Gorillas were hunted directly, and wire snares set for antelope and other animals maimed and killed gorillas that stepped into them, often leaving young animals with permanent injuries.
Habitat loss. The gorillas’ forests were shrinking. As human populations in one of Africa’s most densely populated regions grew, large areas of the volcano forests were cleared for farmland, including crops such as pyrethrum, and the gorillas were left with ever less room.
Capture of infants. The demand for young gorillas for zoos and collections meant families were attacked and destroyed.
Political instability. Conflict and unrest in the region disrupted protection and research, and made it harder to patrol the forests.
A lack of reasons to protect them. Local communities often saw the park as land taken from them and received little benefit from the gorillas, which gave them little reason to protect the animals.
By the 1970s, surveys counted around 275 mountain gorillas in the Virungas, and by 1981 only about 250. A population that small, split between a few isolated groups, was in real danger of disappearing.
Dian Fossey and Karisoke
In 1967, the American zoologist Dian Fossey began long-term research on mountain gorillas, first from a base in Congo and then, after unrest forced her out, at a camp she called Karisoke in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park.
She spent years getting to know individual gorillas, learning to approach them peacefully and giving them names. Her work showed how rich their social lives were, and she became a fierce opponent of poaching, destroying snares and confronting those who hunted gorillas.
The killing of a young silverback named Digit by poachers in the late 1970s shook her and made headlines around the world, drawing attention to the gorillas’ plight. Fossey was murdered at Karisoke in December 1985, and she is buried in the gorilla cemetery she created beside Digit.
The case was never fully resolved, but her death and her writing brought the fight to save mountain gorillas to a global audience.
Fossey herself was pessimistic. At the time, some conservationists predicted that, without drastic change, mountain gorillas could disappear by the end of the century.
The Turning Point: The Mountain Gorilla Project
The change came in 1979, when the Mountain Gorilla Project was launched in Rwanda by a consortium of conservation organisations, including the African Wildlife Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund. It rested on three ideas:
- Protect the gorillas and their habitat, with anti-poaching patrols and the removal of snares.
- Create gorilla tourism, so that living gorillas would earn income for the park and the country.
- Educate and involve local people, so that communities understood and benefited from conservation.
Some gorilla families were habituated, accustomed to the quiet presence of people, so that visitors could see them without harming them. The programme later grew into the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, which today works across the three countries that share the gorillas.
How Mountain Gorilla Numbers Recovered
| Year | Estimated Mountain Gorillas |
|---|---|
| 1960 | About 450 in the Virungas |
| 1970s | Around 275 |
| 1981 | About 250 |
| 1989 | About 644 in total: about 324 in the Virungas and about 320 in Bwindi |
| Today | About 1,063 |
Counts come from different surveys and methods, and the early figures are estimates. Part of the rise in recorded numbers after the 1980s comes from better counting, including the inclusion of the Bwindi population, as well as genuine growth.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda became a national park in 1991, along with Mgahinga, bringing the second population under formal protection. Over the years since, steady protection, veterinary care, tourism revenue and community involvement have allowed numbers to grow, and the mountain gorilla subspecies is now classed as Endangered rather than Critically Endangered, though the wider eastern gorilla species remains Critically Endangered.
Mountain Gorillas Before and After Conservation
| Before Conservation | After Conservation | |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | Unknown to science until 1902 | Studied for decades, individuals recognised |
| Legal protection | Hunted freely; first park only in 1925 | Strictly protected, with ranger patrols |
| Main threats | Hunting, capture, snares, clearing | Disease, habitat pressure, regional instability |
| Local communities | Little benefit, often hostile to parks | Share tourism income and jobs |
| Visitors | Hunters and collectors | Regulated, small-group gorilla trekking |
| Population | About 250 at the low point | About 1,063 |
Why the Mountain Gorilla Story Matters
The history of mountain gorillas before conservation is a lesson in how fast a species can be lost and how much determined, well-designed protection can achieve. It shows that:
- Protection works when it pays for itself. Gorilla tourism turned living gorillas into a valuable asset for the people who live near them.
- Communities must be partners. Conservation succeeds when local people benefit.
- Long-term work pays off. The recovery took decades of patrols, research and veterinary care.
- Threats have not gone away. Disease, habitat pressure and instability still put these gorillas at risk, and about 1,063 is still a small number.
Compare their story with that of their lowland cousins, the western gorillas, which are still in steep decline.
See Mountain Gorillas Today: Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda
Visiting mountain gorillas today is a very different experience from the hunting expeditions of 1902. In Rwanda, gorilla trekking takes place in Volcanoes National Park, about two to three hours’ drive from Kigali, the same mountains where Dian Fossey worked.
A guide takes your small group to a habituated gorilla family, and you spend one hour with them at a respectful distance. Rwanda has 12 habituated gorilla families open to visitors, each visited by up to 8 people a day, which limits the park to 96 permits a day, and a permit costs USD 1,500 per person for foreign non-residents.
A share of tourism revenue supports conservation and nearby communities. In Uganda, the gorilla permit in Bwindi costs USD 800 per person.
Plan your visit:
- Check Rwanda gorilla permit availability for your dates.
- Read the rules and guidelines for gorilla trekking and our guide to the Virunga Mountains.
- Take a 1-day Rwanda gorilla trek, or see two families on the 4-day Rwanda double gorilla trekking safari.
- Choose luxury gorilla trekking in Rwanda or read our budget travel guide to Rwanda.
- Add the Big Five at Akagera National Park, and plan with our guides to Rwanda tourism, safari destinations in Rwanda and tourist attractions in Rwanda.
- Combine Rwanda and Uganda on our 12-day Rwanda and Uganda safari, explore our Uganda safaris, or try the 4 days Bwindi gorillas and Kibale chimpanzees.
Frequently Asked Questions: Mountain Gorillas Before Conservation
When were mountain gorillas discovered? In 1902, when German captain Robert von Beringe shot two gorillas on Mount Sabyinyo in the Virunga volcanoes. The species was named after him the following year.
How many mountain gorillas were left before conservation? Only about 250 in the Virunga volcanoes by 1981, down from an estimated 450 in 1960.
Why did mountain gorilla numbers fall? Hunting for specimens, trophies and souvenirs, the capture of infants, wire snares, clearing of their forests for farmland, and political instability.
Who discovered mountain gorillas? Captain Robert von Beringe was the first European to record them, in 1902. Local people had known the gorillas long before.
Who helped save mountain gorillas? Many people and organisations, including Carl Akeley, who pushed for the first park, George Schaller, who carried out the first field study, Dian Fossey, who studied and defended the gorillas at Karisoke, and the conservation groups behind the Mountain Gorilla Project.
What was Albert National Park? Africa’s first national park, created in 1925 around the Virunga volcanoes to protect mountain gorillas. It later became Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Virunga National Park in DR Congo.
What was the Mountain Gorilla Project? A conservation programme launched in 1979 that combined protection, gorilla tourism and community education, and became a model for protecting the species.
How many mountain gorillas are there now? About 1,063.
Are mountain gorillas still endangered? Yes. The mountain gorilla is classed as Endangered, and the wider eastern gorilla species is Critically Endangered.
Did Dian Fossey save the mountain gorillas? She was one of the key figures: her research and her fight against poaching raised global awareness, though the species’ recovery was the work of many people.
Where can I see mountain gorillas today? In Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks, and DR Congo’s Virunga National Park.
How does gorilla tourism help conservation? Permit fees help fund rangers, protection and community projects, and give local people a reason to protect the gorillas.
Meet the Gorillas That Almost Vanished
Standing a few metres from a mountain gorilla family in the bamboo forest, knowing that their grandparents’ generation numbered only a few hundred, is one of the most moving experiences in wildlife travel.
At Trek Rwanda Gorillas, we operate under Rwanda Development Board licensing and plan every detail of your trek, from your permit to your lodge and transfers. Gorilla permits are limited every day, so contact our team to check availability and book a gorilla trek that helps protect them.
Historical figures are estimates drawn from different surveys and sources, and some details vary between accounts. Permit fees and park rules change, so confirm current details when you book.
