I attended the mountain gorilla baby naming ceremony in Rwanda, dubbed Kwita Izina, last Tuesday. It is a big deal, attended by thousands of people, and a fascinating event.

The mountain gorilla, a large, strong ape inhabiting Africa’s volcanic slopes, has few natural predators. Yet due to detrimental human activity, such as poaching, civil war, and habitat destruction, the mountain gorilla has become the most endangered type of gorilla, with only around 700 mountain gorillas living in the wild.

There habitat is limited to the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in western Uganda, and the Virungas mountain region of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Nearly 400 of the gorillas are in Rwanda.

Anyway, I found myself wondering which were the most East African and integrationist animals in the region — the mountain gorillas, the fishes of Lake Victoria, or the nearly two million animals that make up the annual Great Migration from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the pastures of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya?

The mountain gorillas, Lake Victoria’s fishes, and the wildebeest don’t recognise colonial borders. You could argue that they are the original and true pan-Africanists and the unacknowledged inspiration for the single East African visa.

The fishes of Lake Victoria, however, are divisive. Every other week, you hear stories of Ugandan or Tanzanian authorities arresting Kenyan fishermen fishing “illegally” in their portion of the lake, and confiscating their nets.

At a restaurant in Kigali, we inquired where they get their fish. They said Kenya. Surprising; I thought the main source would have been Uganda. The wildebeest too have caused division. Kenyan and Tanzanian nationalists have squabbled on social media over whom the animals belong to and such things.

Enter the mountain gorillas. The Kinshasa government is always sparring with Rwanda and Uganda, accusing them of propping up rebels in the east of the country. A few weeks ago, DRC soldiers allegedly crossed into Rwanda and were killed, and there was a bit of sabre rattling between the two countries.

But while they fight and quarrel about everything else, there is one thing they have total agreement on — the gorillas.

Gorillas are the most expensive things you pay to see not just in East Africa, but also in Africa. Rwanda charges $750 a pop, Uganda asks tourists to pay $600 for a peek, and DRC is the least pricey – it will set you back only $465.

Rwanda, Uganda, and DRC have a system by which they share the spoils from gorilla tourism, although Kigali has lately been getting the lion’s share, partly because its side of the mountains generates the most gorilla tourism money. So, we must call this in favour of the gorillas. They are the most integrationist animals.

The Single Customs Territory (SCT) that has now been delayed is no different from how the gorilla revenue sharing scheme works. Some free advice to our bureaucrats; if you want to figure out how SCT can work, take a trip up the Virunga Mountains.

Charles Onyango-Obbo is the editor of Mail & Guardian Africa (mgafrica.com). Twitter:cobbo3