Praveen Moman

For the past decade, Praveen Moman, co-founder of Volcanoes Safaris Group based in Kampala, Uganda, has been going into African countries plagued by decades of conflict and establishing tourist centers to revive the local economy and spread awareness of the need for conservation of great apes. 

The Association for the Promotion of Tourism to Africa, Atlanta Chapter hosted Mr. Moman at Zoo Atlanta for a seminar on how his unique company is bringing American tourists to interact with great apes in Rwanda and Uganda, countries that used to be dangerous for foreign visitors.

“When he started going into Rwanda about eight years ago, everyone thought he was nuts,” said Jane Behrend, sales and marketing representative at Volcanoes Safaris’ Atlanta-based U.S. office. 

Rwanda suffered through a civil war from 1990 to 1994, during which the Hutus murdered 800,000 of the rival Tutsi ethnic group.  The country has been in recovery ever since, holding its first local elections in 1999. 

Just a year after those elections, Volcanoes Safaris began bringing tourists to its Virunga environmentally-friendly lodges in Rwanda and Uganda.  These facilities, three in Uganda and one in Rwanda, run solely on solar power and are designed to minimize the environmental impact of tourism.

The company’s Mount Gahinga lodge is located close to the site of Dian Fossey’s ground-breaking research on gorillas.  Volcanoes Safaris guests can visit the grave of Ms. Fossey, who was murdered by poachers in 1985. 

Volcanoes cooperates with the organization that carries on her research and conservation work, Atlanta-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.

Mr. Moman believes that establishing tourism in a post-conflict country empowers local people to revive their economy.

“Without economic input the remnants of conflict continue because local mafias and armies take control,” Mr. Moman told GlobalAtlanta.  Establishing a way to bring in tourists “can kick-start an economy, especially where there are tourism products,” such as the beautiful African landscape and its great apes.

Mr. Moman’s company has helped regenerate the local economy by creating a network of partnerships with private sector companies, non-governmental organizations and the Rwandan Office for Tourism and Parks.

The partnership, with the financial support of the British Department for International Development, has established several privately owned shops near Volcanoes lodges that sell locally crafted goods.

Volcanoes Safaris has also been involved in the renovation of Muhabera Hotel and Kinigi Guest House in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park.  The company helped to establish training programs to prepare local employees for international tourists. 

The main attraction at Volcanoes Safaris is the interaction between guests and lowland gorillas.  Volcanoes Safaris purchases gorilla permits from the governments of Rwanda and Uganda for $500 per guest that allow one hour of face-to-face contact with the animals in a closely controlled environment to guarantee the safety of both humans and gorillas.

The cost of the gorilla permit is included in the total for the safari, which ranges from $2,741 per person for a four-day stay to $6,510 per person for a 12-day package, according to Ms. Behrend.

Mr. Moman said that face-to-face contact with great apes is unlike any other human-animal interaction due to the close genetic relationship between the two species.

“When you connect with gorillas, you’re connecting with people, your ancestors, your neighbors, people that you know from somewhere,” he said.

Lowland gorillas sometimes come into the forested grounds surrounding the lodges.  Mr. Moman described the apes as “mischievous guests,” because of their tendency to crush solar panels out of curiosity.

The close relationship between humans and gorillas is driving calls for their conservation.  He pointed out Willie B., Zoo Atlanta’s longtime resident silverback, as an example of how the lowland gorilla “can capture the imagination of an entire generation.”

Volcanoes Safaris is involved in conservation of gorillas as a partner in the United Nations Environment Programme’s Great Apes Survival Project, an alliance of governmental agencies, non-profit wildlife organizations and private sector supporters implementing projects to protect great apes in their natural habitat.

Volcanoes was the only safari company present at the project’s 2005 conference in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Conservation is more important than ever, said Mr. Moman, as gorilla habitats are now strategic ground in the civil war raging in the eastern part of the Congo. 

Rebels there have taken over Virunga National Park and sometimes use threats against the gorilla population there to pressure the government into halting operations against them, according to news reports.

Nearly 100 park rangers have been killed trying to defend the gorillas since the beginning of the war in 1996.  Nine mountain gorillas have been found dead this year, killed by execution-style bullet wounds that are allegedly the work of the rebels. 

Only an estimated 700 mountain gorillas remain in the Congo, their single native habitat. 

Lowland gorillas have a wider range.  Up to 100,000 live in the Democratic Republic, Uganda and Rwanda, according to information provided by Volcanoes Safaris.

The government of the Congo stepped up its offensive against the rebels in August and September, prompting rebel Gen. Laurent Nkunda to call for peace.  Implementing a peace deal amongst the many warring militias is difficult, however, and fighting continues.

Mr. Moman hopes that the situation will become secure enough that Volcanoes Safaris will eventually be able to operate in the Congo. 

Current gorilla safaris run by the company sometimes cross the border into the Democratic Republic, but peace there would enable Volcanoes to bring tourists into close contact with the rare mountain gorillas there.