Primate Safaris Rwanda has recorded that the world has over 496 primate species in Africa and distributed in various national parks & forest reserves However Primate Safari Experience offer primate watching tours to Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania & Democratic republic of congo. Among the must see on the primate tour include Mountain gorillas, Chimpanzee, Monkey & Eastern lowland gorillas in Kahuzi Biega National Park.
Africa Primate are grouped into Strepsirrhini (lemurs, Galapagos, lorisids) and Haplorrhini (tarsiers, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, apes).
Primate Watching Safaris are comprised of four general species: gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos. Gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos are found throughout central Sub-Saharan Africa, while orangutans are found in either Malaysia or Indonesia.
Great apes are the animals with the closest DNA to humans. They also share another similarity with us: our altruism , Bonobos have been observed to share their food with others outside of their immediate group to ensure that every animal has enough to eat.
Although many animals have been observed to use tools, great apes have shown the greatest intelligence using them. Most notably, great apes have been known to gather tools and save them for future tasks, demonstrating cognitive abilities much like humans. Some of Africa’s great apes are:
African Gorillas
Gorillas are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Sub-Saharan Africa. The genus Gorilla is divided into two species: the eastern gorillas and the western gorillas, and either four or five subspecies. Gorillas move around by knuckle-walking, although they sometimes walk bipedally for short distances while carrying food or in defensive situations.
Gorillas live in groups called troops. Troops tend to be made of one adult male or silverback, multiple adult females and their offspring. However, multiple-male troops also exist. A silverback is typically more than 12 years of age and is named for the distinctive patch of silver hair on his back, which comes with maturity. Silverbacks also have large canine teeth that also come with maturity. Both males and females tend to emigrate from their natal groups.
Mountain Gorillas
There are only two populations of Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei); one in the Virunga Mountains (a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, comprising of Virunga National Park in DR Congo, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda), and another in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.
There are two populations of Mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei): one in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda and the second in the Virunga Volcanoes conservation area comprising the three national parks that straddle Rwanda, Uganda, and eastern DR Congo.
Eastern Lowland Gorillas
The Eastern Lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), also known as the Grauer’s gorilla, is only found in the eastern region of DR Congo in Kahuzi biega national park.
All great ape species have experienced considerable declines in population size and range over the past few decades. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species lists all of the great apes as either Endangered or Critically Endangered and all great apes except the Mountain gorillas show decreasing population trends.
Western Lowland Gorillas
Fewer than 300 Cross River gorillas are left in West Africa; as few as 2,000 Eastern Lowland gorillas remain, and it is believed that as few as 6,600 Sumatran orangutans can be found in the wild. The Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) is found in 11 pockets of forest on either side of the border between Nigeria and Cameroon.
The Western Lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is found in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo and the Cabinda region of Angola.
Chimpanzee in Africa
Chimpanzee is a species of great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies.
The chimpanzee is covered in coarse black hair but has a bare face, fingers, toes, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. It is larger and more robust than the bonobo, weighing 40–60 kg for males and 27–50 kg for females and standing 100 to 170 cm. Its gestation period is eight months. The infant is weaned at about three years old, but usually maintains a close relationship with its mother for several years more. It lives in groups that range in size from 15 to 150 members, although individuals travel and forage in much smaller groups during the day.
Nearly all chimpanzee populations have been recorded using tools. They modify sticks, rocks, grass, and leaves and use them when foraging for honey, termites, ants, nuts, and water. Despite the lack of complexity, forethought and skill are apparent in making these tools.
The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is found in 21 countries across Equatorial Africa, yet has been classified Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1996. The four subspecies of the chimpanzee include the Eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii); the Central chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes); the Cameroon – Nigeria chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti); and the West African chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus). These four subspecies are distributed across the African continent from southern Senegal and Guinea in West Africa, across the Congo Basin to western Uganda and western Tanzania in East Africa.
All African great apes are threatened by various factors and will be extinct if we don’t do something to conserve and protect them and their natural habitats.