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\n \u201cThe mountain gorillas have really shaped my life,\u201d Kalema-Zikusoka said. \u201cI felt it was so important that they\u2019re protected.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Kalema-Zikusoka traces her fascination with primates to when she was 8. While practicing piano at home, she realized her neighbor\u2019s pet monkey was observing her from a nearby open window. Intrigued, she left the room and watched from the doorway to see what would happen next.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe sat down on the stool and played one note with one finger and I was like, \u2018Wow!\u2019\u201d Kalema-Zikusoka said. \u201cThey\u2019re so similar to us.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Over the years, her interest in wildlife grew, leading her to the Royal Veterinary College in London and, in 1994, back to Uganda where she got a summer job at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Bwindi \u2013 which means \u201ca place full of darkness,\u201d referring to the area\u2019s thick forest canopy \u2013 is home to nearly half of the world\u2019s mountain gorillas.\n <\/p>\n
\n She vividly remembers her first gorilla sighting.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe was just willing to let us into his presence, and not at all threatening,\u201d she said. \u201cI looked into his very intelligent brown eyes, and I felt a really deep connection.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Her experience in Bwindi that summer cemented her passion for protecting the animals, which were then on the brink of extinction, with just over 600 left in the world.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI fell in love with the place and felt if I don\u2019t come back and start working with them immediately after vet school, their numbers may disappear.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Ultimately, Uganda\u2019s mountain gorillas are threatened because of human activity near Bwindi. The most significant danger comes from habitat loss, as trees are cut down for firewood, charcoal, or to clear land for farming. While the great apes are rarely directly targeted by poachers, they can be harmed by snares set for other animals. They\u2019re also vulnerable to human diseases, like scabies, since they share 98.4% of their DNA with humans.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Uganda\u2019s lush forests and abundant wildlife were a tourist destination in the 1960s, but the brutal reign of Idi Amin in the 1970s changed that. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and much of the country\u2019s wildlife was slaughtered \u2013 hunted for food and profit.\n <\/p>\n
\n That political instability also deeply impacted Kalema-Zikusoka\u2019s life. Her father was the Minister for Commerce and Industry, helping the country develop its post-colonial economy, when Amin came to power in 1971. Within less than a year, when she was just 2 years old, he was abducted and never seen again.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe was one of the first victims when Amin came to power \u201c she said. \u201cWhen I was old enough to understand what had happened to him, I felt like I wanted to continue his dream \u2013 his legacy of a prosperous Uganda \u2013 through my passion for wildlife.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Since small rural villages border Bwindi, gorillas sometimes wander onto residents\u2019 property \u2014 leading to interaction that can make the animals vulnerable. Since 2003, Kalema-Zikusoka\u2019s nonprofit has worked to help people better coexist with gorillas and realize that they will benefit from protecting the area\u2019s wildlife.\n <\/p>\n
\n One important approach has been to organize and train Village Health and Conservation Teams \u2013 community volunteers who visit households near Bwindi. They educate people about proper sanitation and disease prevention measures and also provide family planning support. This outreach not only helps builds healthier communities, but helps villagers understand how their actions impact the gorillas. This effort has reached thousands of households.\n <\/p>\n
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\n But public health isn\u2019t their only focus. The organization also trains people to teach livestock management practices, which reduces threats to wildlife. The group also established \u2018Gorilla Guardians,\u2019 who safely herd gorillas back to the forest when they stray out of protected areas, and work to reform poachers. One of the group\u2019s former employees started his own nonprofit that trains poachers to become rangers, guides and farmers.\n <\/p>\n
\n Coffee is one of the area\u2019s cash crops, so when Kalema-Zikusoka heard local farmers weren\u2019t getting a good price \u2013 and sometimes resorting to poaching to feed their families \u2013 she and her husband started Gorilla Conservation Coffee. Since 2015, this social enterprise has paid farmers above market price for their coffee and then for each bag of coffee sold, a portion of the proceeds goes to Conservation Through Public Health. The effort started with just 75 farmers, but it\u2019s now grown to more than 630 farmers \u2013 more than one third of whom are women.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis is showing people that we care about not just the gorillas,\u201d Kalema-Zikusoka said. \u201cWe also care about them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n But far and away, the area\u2019s most significant economic growth in the last 20 years has been in \u201cgorilla tourism.\u201d The number of tourists to Bwindi has increased from around 1,300 in 1993 to almost 39,000 in 2023, creating more jobs and opportunities. Recently, the World Bank reported that tourism in Bwindi brought $31.7 million to the local economy, and the park also gives 20% of its revenue to support community projects like building schools and roads.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cGorilla tourism has completely transformed the lives of the people here,\u201d she said. \u201c(Now), people see the gorillas as their future.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n As a result of all these efforts, the mountain gorillas are now thriving in Bwindi, where the population has increased from around 300 in the 1990s to 459 during the last gorilla \u2018census\u2019 in 2018. The rest live in the Virunga Mountains \u2013 a region that covers part of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo \u2013 and their numbers have also improved, bringing the total population to 1049.\n <\/p>\n
\n This led to the animals being reclassified from critically endangered to endangered \u2013 a major victory for conservationists.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe journey that the gorillas have been on in the past 30 years is a beacon of hope in the world of conservation where there (are) so many depressing stories,\u201d Kalema-Zikusoka said.\n <\/p>\n
\n While her pioneering efforts have been recognized internationally, her greatest reward is seeing mountain gorillas flourish.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI always get very excited when I hear that a baby mountain gorilla has been born,\u201d she said. \u201cIt gives me hope that the numbers are continuing to grow. It means that we\u2019re bringing the gorillas back from the brink of extinction.\u201d\n <\/p>\n