Gifted by nature, Uganda the pearl of Africa is located in the eastern part of Africa bordering Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda south Sudan and democratic republic of Congo. It is believed to be the home of half of mountain gorillas in the world hosting approximately 480 gorillas in 13 habituated families, 12 in Binds impenetrable forest national park and 1 in Mgahinga gorilla national park. Gorilla tracking is the most interesting and most income generating activity in Uganda. The gorilla permit is sold at 600$ and it allows tourists to encounter the mountain gorillas for a maximum of one hour, only 8 people are allowed to interact with a gorilla family.
Mountain gorillas keep changing positions and cannot stay in the same place for two days, trekking experience depends on how near of far the allocated gorilla family is but after setting your eyes on these endangered species, it is the wonderful experience that you can never forget.
These mountain gorillas live in families and each family is headed by a silver back that defends the entire family from external attackers and disturbances, there are different gorilla families which you will visit while on your gorilla safari to Bwindi national park and Mgahinga gorilla national park are explained as follows:
Rushegura Gorilla Family
Located in Buhoma, the gorilla family has 19 members including one silver back. This family was brought together in2002 when one of the silver backs from the Habinyanja group broke away. It started with 12 members including 5 females but has now increased to 19 members. The family is calm and used to move crossing the border to Rwanda but now has settled and is always not far from buhoma.
Mubare Gorilla Family
This family is located in Buhoma, has 9 members with one silver back. It is the oldest habituated gorilla family in Uganda found in the Mubare hills fully habituated in 1998, the family started with 12 members and had expanded to 18 members but the wars ant attacked led to death of some members limiting the number to only 9 at present.
Bitukura Gorilla Family
With 14 members including 4 silver backs, the gorilla family is located in Ruhija and was named after the river where the family was first sighted. It was habituated in 2007 and is a peaceful family. It had 24 members originally but the disputes in the area reduced the number however, a new born baby gorilla joined the family in 2013.
Nkuringo family
Located in Nkuringo, the gorilla family has 19 members including 2 silver backs; the family was habituated in 2004 due to the many problems they created to the local communities by destroying their crops. The name is a Rukiga word meaning a hill of stones, the family was led by the silverback Nkuringo who died in 2008, leaving behind 2 silverbacks in the group. In November 2008, twin – Katungi and Muhozi were born but Katungi unfortunately died at the age of 1.5 years.
Oruzogo Gorilla Family
The family is located in Ruhija sector with 23 members including 1 silver back and is the most recently habituated family in bwindi, it was opened on 20Th June 2011 and was opened for the visitors.
Mishaya Gorilla Family
The gorilla family of 7 members including 1 silver back is located in Rushaga area of Bwindi national park, it was formed when the silver back Mishaya left the Nshongi gorilla group with some females and started his own family, and other members from other families joined which expanded the family.
Kahungye Gorilla Family
The gorilla family is located in Rushaga, the family has a total of 13 members with 3 silverbacks, Rumansi is the dominant silverback followed by Rwigi and Ruhamuka, the group split in 2011 after being opened to the tourists. The group formed into Businge family after splitting.
Habinyanja Gorilla Family
The family of 17 individuals including 2 silver backs is located in Buhoma ranging from kahororo to rubona; the family was first visited in 1999 after its habituation in 1997. The family was first led by the dominant silver back Mugurusi which means old man and after his death, the two brothers Rwansigazi and Mwirima shared power but they could not continue because they were different in behaviors. In 2002, the two silver backs separated without any fights. The group that followed Rwansigazi maintained the name Habinyanja and the members who stayed with Mwirima came to be known as the Rushegura family. Later, Rwansigazi gave up leadership to Makara who is now the dominant silverback of the Habinyanja family. Sometimes, both groups still come across each other but co-exist rather peacefully.
Bweza Gorilla Family
The family of 9 members including 1 silver back is located in Rushaga section of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park, originally, the Nshongi family was the largest gorilla group ever habituated. In 2010 Mishaya decided to start his own family and two years later also Bweza decided to separate himself from the rest of the group, this new’ group was opened for tourism in December 2012.
Busingye Gorilla Family
This Busingye family is located in Rushaga with 9 individuals including 1 silverback, the family is led by Busingye silverback who broke away from the former group kahungye group in June 2012 and decided to start up his own family.
Busingye means ‘peace’ which is quite surprising since this ambitious silverback is known for his legendary fights with other gorilla groups as he likes showing his power whenever encountering a wild family by grabbing a female in that family mercilessly to his own family.
Nyakagezi Gorilla Family
This is the only family located in Mgahinga gorilla national park with 10 members including I silver back. Mark is the leader of the group the only silverback and likes traveling crossing the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and democratic republic of Congo, however the family is believed to have stabilized now and it is available for tracking since 2012, a new gorilla was born in 1023 adding on to the family size.
Kyaguriro Gorilla Family
This is located in Ruhija and has 15 members 1 silver back, this group is not available for tracking and has only been reserved for research and other studies. This research has provided much information concerning mountain gorillas and their conservation.
How can I do a safari here? this could be the question that you are asking yourself now. But the good news is that you can indeed do a safari here by contacting a local tour operator say ugandasafari.com, an Abacus African Vacation company that deal with local safaris in Uganda.
