High mountain gorilla filming fees affecting the Uganda tourism promotion- It is my humble request and suggestion that the Uganda Wildlife Authority should think of promoting Uganda gorilla tourism and its associated activities like gorilla trekking outside the world specifically reducing the high mountain gorilla filming fees.  Mountain gorilla filming is by far the most expensive wildlife filming activity in Uganda. I’m saying this because the tourists we encountered book a gorilla safari to Uganda because it is affordable and surprising some of the tourists still don’t know Uganda but they just know its gorilla trekking adventure and safaris. However, Uganda is gifted with nature in terms of several places of interest, it is not yet known fully to outside Uganda and this necessitated a lot of public relations and promoting of Uganda as the tourism destination. The presence of the most mountain gorillas in Uganda has put the country on the world map, and therefore we should use this great opportunity to ensure that the destination Uganda is well known and prompted based on the popular activity of mountain gorilla.

High mountain gorilla filming fees in Uganda

In Uganda mountain gorilla filming goes for USD4200 per hour for the maximum number of the 8 members. Gorilla filming is done in Bwindi impenetrable forest National Park and Mgahinga gorilla national park. It is important to note that this filming fee excludes the normal gorilla trekking permit which is at USD700 person per trek. This means that those interested in filming will have to pay the filming fees and the normal gorilla trekking permit price. Other than the filming fees, 5% of the total filming fees are also charged as the monitoring fees while in the forest. still, the Uganda wildlife authority reacquires that the television companies have to pay to the Uganda media council for the accreditation as well as the equipment for temporal importation.  The whole experience of filming makes it so expensive to film mountain gorillas in only one hour so in case you want to film the gorillas for more than one hour how much expensive would that one be.

Further, the high number of mountain gorilla filming fees in Uganda has hampered the televisions and production companies to come to Uganda and photograph the film the Bwindi and Mgahinga mountain gorillas. This as well implies that the documentaries for Uganda maintain gorillas are only reserved for big companies like BBC, National Geographical, and others.  There is a high possibility that if there is a reduction in the price of the gorilla filming in Bwindi or Mgahinga, then more television and production companies will flock to Uganda and create awareness about mountain gorillas through cheap documentaries. This in turn will create a lot of information for the outside world and as a result, more visitors will come to consume Uganda’s tourism products.

Yes, we know that the justification for increasing the mountain gorilla filming fees is associated with the protection of the endangered mountain gorillas according to the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Mountain gorillas need no to be disturbed by humans and have to live naturally in their natural habitat and that’s why the 5% is charged as the monitoring fees to ensure that the likely impacts caused during filming activity are dealt with. Promoting and creating awareness of mountain gorillas in Uganda by reducing the gorilla filming fees should be looked into since it has proved to be the hampering factor for the TV and production companies to promote Uganda as a great tourism destination.