[Reporter] A journey to a remote corner of Uganda's southwest.
Where mountains rise through the mist
and forests hang in the clouds.
[birds chirping]
One, in particular, is called the Impenetrable Forest
and so it seems at first glance.
But beyond the canopy of trees
a charmed circle sometimes reveals itself.
Mountain gorillas.
All of them in the jungle.
And some of them, clearly looking at the stars.
The gorillas here have been nurtured back from the brink of extinction
by conservationists over four decades.
But they remain endangered.
And now there is a new threat on the horizon
carried, as usual, by mankind.
[Rythmic music]
[Birds chirping]
If COVID is getting to the gorillas you could wipe them out.
You know, you could wipe them out.
It would be terrible.
[Reporter] Veterinarian Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka
has been caring for Uganda's mountain gorillas for 20 years.
They share 98 per cent of human DNA
and her fear now is that the coronavirus will penetrate the impenetrable.
The virus easily attaches to them
just like it does to us.
Which means that the way that COVID-19 is affecting humans
is exactly the same way it will affect the great apes.
[Reporter] Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
is just starting to reopen its doors to tourism
after months of lockdown.
Kalema-Zikusoka is helping to train park rangers, trackers and porters
on how to protect themselves and the gorillas from COVID-19.
We're going along as guinea pigs of sorts.
One of the first public treks in since March.
Our guide, Emmanuel Mpastwe has been a ranger for eight years.
There is no way into the forest but on foot
and it's not a trek for the vertically challenged.
The altitude in the park stretching between 1,000 and 2,600 metres.
Bwindi means a dark place
and when you reach its perimeter
it feels like it might swallow you whole.
Once inside, eyes adjust
and eventually eyes appear.
The immovable, suddenly moving.
[Kalema-Zikusoka] So, we found the gorillas when they're active
and under there is two females with babies of about one-year-old.
[Reporter] The family we meet has already been touched by COVID-19 indirectly.
Their leader, a 25-year-old silverback gorilla named Rafiki
was killed by a poacher in June.
[Mpastwe] So this is Rwamutwe and he is the head of the family.
He's now the caretaker of the family.
[Reporter] There is lots of hand sanitizing and everyone wears a mask.
But so thick is the jungle, that social distancing is difficult
and staying the required 10 metres away from the gorillas
is an imperfect science if they decide otherwise.
This is the moment Rwamutwe and another black back cut our party in two.
[Soft music and nature sounds]
Bwindi is home to 21 different gorilla troops.
Not all of them habituated to humans.
They now number around 450.
Making up nearly half the world's population of mountain gorillas.
The rest, just over the border in neighbouring Congo and Rwanda.
In the past, the Ugandan wildlife authority has relied on gorilla watching tours
for 60 per cent of its operating costs.
Chief Warden Nelson Guma says the arrival of COVID-19 stopped that.
[Guma] And then, of course, instantly we lost the revenue.
We mean we are not getting revenue.
[Reporter] With fewer tourists and rangers in the park
poaching went up.
Doubling across Uganda
and 30 per cent here in Bwindi.
[Guma] When we lost traffic here everybody got concerned
and so we had to devise a strategy
to dominate the interior of the park.
[Reporter] Guma believes they've got poaching back under control
but for how long?
Harmony between the gorillas and local communities
hasn't always been easy
especially when the gorillas venture out in search of farmers' crops.
But there have been innovations.
Here people are sorting tea to be taken into town for sale.
The wildlife authority planted it next to the forest as a deterrent
because gorillas don't like to eat it
and the local community can still earn money.
But the gorillas have still been known to venture out
in search of things they do like.
Bananas or sweet potatoes
and that worries Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka.
She hands out masks when she can.
Part of the work her non-profit organization Conservation through Public Health does.
The philosophy being that to protect the gorillas
you also have to protect human health.
The NGO identifies health ambassadors in local towns
and provides tools for learning
from handwashing lessons
to who to call when you need to get a gorilla out of your garden.
[Kalema-Zikusoka] And they chase them safely so nobody's hurt.
The gorillas aren't hurt
and the community is not hurt.
[Reporter] It is a delicate balance.
One in danger of being upset by any loss of revenue to communities like these
that have placed their hopes on transitioning away from hunting
or cutting timber in the forest.
One thing the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed
is just how dependent wildlife conservation efforts have become on tourism
and the money it brings in.
Some say, dangerously so.
If COVID-19 poses an existential threat to the gorillas
shouldn't we simply stay away from them?
But if we did
would they and their habitat remain safe?
I would say that tourism is a necessary evil
in order to protect the wildlife.
[Reporter] Kalema-Zikusoka insists that done properly
it can help both.
But the only problem is that if we don't do it carefully
we can actually wipe out the golden egg.
You know, we could wipe out the very species
that are helping them to get out of poverty.
[Reporter] She and others are doing their best to guard against that.
They collect samples of gorilla dung to test for signs of COVID-19
or other diseases.
If a gorilla were infected
plans would be put in place to isolate that gorilla's troop from other groups.
Treatment, not an easy prospect.
You know you can't bring them in
and put them on a ventilator in a hospital.
You have to do everything out in the wild.
[Soft music and nature sounds]
[Reporter] The Bwindi Forest dates back some 25,000 years
and it's hard not to feel a sense of enchantment in its embrace.
Be it the forest itself
or the protective charms being cast around the gorillas by their guardians.
Busy counting up which family members made an appearance today.
Rwamutwe seems to have decided our hour is up.
Tolerant of our intrusion, but calling time.
The family turning their backs
except for the little ones mirroring ourselves
not quite able to look away.
There is a sense of trust.
Let's hope we don't betray it.
Margaret Evans, CBC News
in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.