How humans are making way for endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda's national park

Chris Ship trekked through Africa's oldest national park to see how these creatures are winning back their natural habitat

As we climbed up the steep slopes of the Virunga Mountains, the peaks were still shrouded in mist. They often are.

Rwanda’s tallest peak, Mount Karisimbi, is 4507 metres (14,800 ft) high.

You understand how Sigourney Weaver’s 1988 film, Gorillas in the Mist, got its name.

We were here to see how this country has managed to save the Mountain Gorillas from the brink of extinction - a conservation project that’s been a victim of its own success.

With more than 600 of these creatures now living on the Rwandan side of these vast mountains, they’ve run out of room.

The Volcanoes National Park– Africa’s oldest – is simply not big enough.

Over many decades, the gorillas’ natural habitat has been converted to farmland. The bamboo which grows so well in the fertile soil was cleared to make way for fields of potatoes and pyrethrum (a natural fertiliser exported to Europe).

So when you look at the mountains, you notice immediately how the arable fields go right up to the very edge of today’s park boundary.

But what the humans took in the 1950s and 1960s, the gorillas are about to take back.

The national park is being expanded by a quarter so the gorilla population can continue to grow.

After crossing from the fields into the national park, we trekked up to a large thicket of bamboo.

And then we heard a rustling in the bushes as one of these beautiful gorillas suddenly appeared and passed right before our feet.

It was much sooner into our trek than I had anticipated. And much closer.

The park guides keep you ten metres away from the gorillas and, these days, you need a negative Covid test and a mask to go on the trek.

But this is the gorillas' home - and they do what they want.

It meant a mother carrying a new born in her arms casually walked in front of me and a Silverback – the boss of this family – rolled onto his back and scratched his chest.

This family has been called ‘Amahoro’, which means ‘peace’ in Kinyarwanda.

There are 22 of them from the elderly silverbacks to the playful teenagers and little infants.

It’s difficult to describe what it’s like to be this close to creatures in whom you recognise so many human traits.

It gives you a whole new perspective on the natural world and the wildlife we share it with.

And it’s important to remember we were in their home, and they are wild animals.

So tourist groups are limited to eight people and the maximum time spent with the gorillas is one hour per day.

And it is the revenue from that tourism that is ultimately helping to secure their future.

The local area gets a 10% share of the park fees (£1,200 per person to do the gorilla trek) and they have seen a boost for jobs in hotels or as guides and rangers.

Local people can see and feel the benefits that the growing gorilla population is bringing to their lives.

Rwanda has a population of 13 million and is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa.

The country is known as the land of a thousand hills and every scrap of land on nearly every slope has been farmed.

But the gorillas are bringing benefits far beyond the enjoyment of wealthy tourists.

We met a group of porters who supplement their farming income with daily trips, carrying the bags of the American and European visitors.

Previously, they’d been poachers in the park – not targeting the gorillas directly, but often harming them in antelope traps.

Expanding the park – and returning the cultivated fields to natural habitat is a mammoth task.

It will move three thousand families to new homes and demolish whole villages at a cost of £250 million.

The residents have been offered new, purpose-built homes as well as compensation.

But they are also finding an alternative future to farming.

Dividing a family farm between six children will not sustain them in the decades ahead so they've been given help to find a different income stream.

And as the gorilla numbers continue to grow, so will the number of tourists who come here – and the revenues they bring.

The mountain gorillas have come a long way since David Attenborough and Dian Fossey brought their plight to the world's attention 50 years ago.

But the species is still considered ‘critically endangered.'

Humans have always been their greatest threat but now, managed correctly, they could be the gorillas' biggest hope.

And for once, in the conflict between humans and wildlife which we see right across the world, it is the wildlife in these mountains which is winning out.

Watch Chris' On Assignment report on ITV tonight (Tuesday 26 July) at 10.45pm or afterwards on the ITV Hub

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