Rainforests all over the world are under dramatically increasing threat not just from local slash and burn agriculture and development, but far more significantly from industrial logging that exploits these natural resources for the developed world at levels that simply are not sustainable and which affect us all.
Africa’s Congo Basin – the world’s second largest expanse of tropical rainforest after the Amazon – is no different. It is not only the local loss of biodiversity through the associated and rampant bushmeat trade that is a concern, but the global impact of the loss of carbon stocks and the reduced ability of these large forest blocks to sequester the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by the industrial economies of the world. Simply put, the effects are so far reaching that these global issues can no longer be ignored by virtue of their remoteness on far-off continents.
By establishing a presence and by demonstrating a value to the forests and their wildlife beyond unsustainable exploitation through logging, mining or the bushmeat trade we know that we will make a tangible difference to conservation. In short, we want to spread the rainforest conservation message both globally and locally. Responsible gorilla-orientated tourism is the catalyst for this statement.
Finally, our camps touch the earth lightly with raised decks lifting the footprint above the undergrowth and state of the art renewable energy and waste water systems mitigating any potential impact.