Module 146 · Conservation Economics
The Gorilla
Dividend
Rwanda charges $1,500 for one hour with the mountain gorillas. 96 permits per day. No exceptions. The price is the point. The price is why there are gorillas left.
0
gorillas alive
$0M
tourism revenue (2024)
$0
per permit
0
permits per day
001 · The Comeback
254 → 1,063. The only great ape that’s increasing.
In 1981, 254 mountain gorillas remained. Every other great ape on earth is declining — orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, western gorillas. Mountain gorillas are the exception. The green line is the proof.
Source: IUCN, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, Greater Virunga Census (2010, 2015/16, 2018)
002 · The Price
Three countries. Three prices. One works best.
Rwanda charges double Uganda and nearly four times the DRC. The gorillas don’t recognise borders. A family that ranges into DRC territory faces different odds than one that stays in Rwanda. The price is carrying capacity expressed in currency.
Rwanda: 8 visitors × 12 habituated groups = 96/day max
Uganda: 8 visitors × 20 habituated groups = 160/day max
DRC: Virunga closed — security crisis since 2020
003 · The Virunga Massif
One mountain range. Three countries. Five volcanoes.
Cloud forest at 3,000 metres. The gorillas move between Rwanda, Uganda, and DRC without passports. The humans who protect them operate under three different governments, three budgets, three levels of stability.
Satellite imagery: Mapbox. Click markers for detail.
004 · The Money
$647 million in tourism revenue. The gorillas earned $200 million of it.
The green bars are gorilla tourism revenue. The grey is everything else — Akagera, Nyungwe, MICE events, city tourism. Gorilla trekking is roughly 31% of all tourism revenue on 0.1% of the land area. COVID carved out 2020. The recovery was faster than anyone predicted.
Source: Rwanda Development Board (RDB), WTTC Rwanda Economic Impact Report 2025
005 · Where the Money Goes
10% to communities. Not charity. Strategy.
A farmer whose crops are raided by buffalo, whose land sits next to the park boundary, needs a reason not to resent the forest. The revenue-sharing fund has built schools, health centres, water systems. It has provided livestock, seeds, loans. The people who live with the gorillas see tangible benefit from their presence.
Hover the chart to explore
006 · The Arithmetic
Each gorilla generates $515 per day. Alive.
The logic is simple and unsentimental. A live gorilla generates hundreds of dollars per day in tourism revenue. A dead gorilla generates nothing. Rwanda decided the gorillas were worth more alive, and then structured an entire economy around that decision.
007 · The Guards
The men who once killed them now find them for tourists.
Rwanda employs former poachers as trackers. The men who once knew how to find gorillas to kill them now know how to find them for tourists. Their knowledge of the forest — the trails, the feeding patterns, the family dynamics — is irreplaceable.
The job provides income, status, and purpose. It also creates a network of eyes in the forest. Poaching becomes difficult when the people who know the terrain are paid to protect it.
Rwanda’s gorilla rangers are some of the best-trained and best-paid conservation officers in Africa. They track gorilla groups daily, maintain the trails, provide security, and serve as guides for the tourists whose fees pay their salaries.
Many are from the communities that once poached the same gorillas. Some rangers remember killing gorillas before they protected them. Others lost family members to gorillas that raided crops. The relationships are complicated. But the economics are clear. A ranger’s salary supports an extended family. The tourists bring business to nearby villages. However people feel about the gorillas themselves, they can see what the gorillas bring.
008 · 122 Years
1902 — 2024
1902
First scientific description. Captain Robert von Beringe shoots two gorillas on Mt Sabinyo.
1925
Albert National Park created (now Virunga). First protected area for gorillas.
1967
Dian Fossey establishes Karisoke Research Centre between Mt Karisimbi and Mt Visoke.
1981
First comprehensive census: 254 individuals. Species on the edge.
1985
Fossey murdered at Karisoke. December 26. Gorillas in the Mist published three years later.
1994
Rwandan genocide. Rangers stay at posts. Gorillas survive in the forest above.
1999
IGCP tourism programme restarts. First post-war permits sold.
2003
Permit price: $250. Revenue-sharing programme begins. 10% to communities.
2005
Permit raised to $500. Gorilla population passes 380.
2012
Census: 480 gorillas. Steady growth confirmed across Virunga Massif.
2017
Rwanda raises permit to $1,500. High-value, low-volume model crystallises.
2018
Census: 1,004 gorillas. Reclassified from Critically Endangered to Endangered.
2020
Census update: 1,063. COVID closes parks. Gorilla Guardians Village programme expands.
2024
Rwanda tourism: $647M total revenue. Gorilla tourism: $200M. 386,000 tourism jobs.
The mountain gorilla was once considered doomed. Rwanda decided it was worth more alive than dead, then built an entire economy around that decision. The permit price is not gouging. It is carrying capacity expressed in currency. The revenue sharing is not generosity. It is the cost of keeping the forest intact.
009 · Connected Intelligence
The pattern.
The Barbary lion went extinct because nobody built an economic model around keeping it alive. The mountain gorilla survived because Rwanda did.
The DRC portion of the Virunga Massif is inside the conflict zone. Rangers killed, tourists kidnapped. The gorillas don't recognise borders.
Rwanda's Visit Rwanda / Arsenal deal. China's Bugesera airport investment. Infrastructure that makes $1,500 permits possible.
Sources & Open Data
Rwanda Development Board (RDB) — Annual Report 2024, Tourism Statistics
WTTC — Rwanda Travel & Tourism Economic Impact Report 2025
IUCN Red List — Gorilla beringei beringei (Endangered, pop. trend: increasing)
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund — Population monitoring data, Karisoke Research Centre
Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration — Census reports (2010, 2015/16, 2018)
World Bank — Rwanda Economic Update: Nature-based Tourism (Feb 2023)
Robbins M. et al. — Mountain gorilla population dynamics, Biological Conservation
Open Data Layer
World Bank (data.worldbank.org) — Rwanda GDP, tourism contribution, poverty
IUCN Red List (iucnredlist.org) — Species status, population estimates
WTTC Research Hub (wttc.org/research) — Tourism economic impact by country
ACLED (acleddata.com) — DRC conflict events near Virunga
Copernicus (scihub.copernicus.eu) — 10m satellite imagery — Virunga deforestation
WorldPop (worldpop.org) — Population density around park boundaries
Data compilation, visualisation & analysis: Dancing with Lions
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