Editor,

Refer to the story, "Photographer gets punched by mountain gorilla” (The New Times, February 11). I suppose the photographer in question breached the rules which require keeping a distance of at least seven metres between him (or any other human being) and gorillas and limiting flash photography.

Probably he was attacked because he was too close to the silverback and provoked him by repeatedly taking several photos. Luckily, he was not severely injured; otherwise this would have been a tragedy and a dent to Rwanda’s tourism industry.

I think this is a reminder for the park management of the need to reinforce the rules and regulations when visiting gorillas.

Butare