In the southern forest belt of Cameroon a trial is underway to develop a 'community-based gorilla research and tourism site'. This is taking place within the context of government policy to involve local populations in the management of wildlife, and is an attempt to address the desire of a local community to develop some sort of tourism in and around their community forest. This paper discusses some fundamental questions related to the feasibility of the trial, such as the difficulty of working within existing legislation, the need to habituate the gorillas to the presence of humans, and the problem of helping the community to organise such an activity effectively.