Mountain Gorilla Families in Uganda
Mountain Gorilla Families in Uganda : Uganda is a famous habitat for mountain gorillas hosting the largest population of mountain gorillas in the world with over 600 mountain gorilla individuals, mountain gorillas in Uganda are found in Bwindi impenetrable national park and Mgahinga national park. Generally Uganda is a home to 20 mountain gorilla families as elaborated below.
Mountain gorilla Families in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Park
Bwindi impenetrable national park is one of the most famous national parks in Uganda and a remarkable destination for mountain gorilla trekking safaris in Uganda, Bwindi impenetrable national park is a UNESCO World heritage site found in the south western Uganda stretching over an area of 321 square kilometers.
Bwindi impenetrable national park is a home to the world’s biggest mountain gorilla population recorded to be over 600 individuals, some of the mountain gorillas in this park were put under habituation process and set aside for mountain gorilla trekking experience. There are 19 habituated mountain gorilla families in Bwindi impenetrable national park and they include Mubare Gorilla Family, Habinyanja Gorilla Family, Rushegura Gorilla Family, Bitukura Gorilla Family, Oruzogo Gorilla Family, Nkuringo Gorilla Family, Nshongi Gorilla Family, Mishaya Gorilla Family, Kahungye Gorilla Family, Bweza Gorilla Family- Rushaga, Busingye Gorilla Family, Kyaguriro Gorilla Family
Mubare Gorilla Family
Mubare gorilla family is one of the easiest gorilla families to track in Bwindi impenetrable national park found in the Buhoma sector of the park, this family is the oldest gorilla group in Uganda opened in 1993 consisting of 8 individuals under the leadership of silverback Kanyonyi. This family’s name resulted from the first gorilla trackers who visited this group, this group was initially under the leadership of silverback Ruhondeza and he died due to natural cases at the age of 50.
Habinyanja Gorilla Family – Buhoma (Bwindi)
Habinyanja gorilla family is the first habituated gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park found in the Buhoma sector, this family is of 17 members under the leadership of dominant silverback Makara who succeeded silverback Habinyanja.
Habinyanja gorilla family was habituated in 1997 and by that time it was under the leadership of silverback Mugurusi who passed away due to old age and was succeeded by two of his brothers Rwansigazi and Mwirima. Habinyanja gorilla family gets its name from a rukiga slag meaning place with water which is a reference to the swamps where the members of this family were first seen. Brother Rwansigazi and Mwirima had different personality traits, Mwirima was fond of staying in specific areas and Rwansigazi loved moving which resulted into peaceful separation. Rwansigazi left the group in 2002 to form his own group in names of Rushegura family.
Rushegura Gorilla Family
Rushegura gorilla family is a family of 19 members found in Buhoma sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this family was formed as a result of Rwansigazi and Mwirima separating away from Habinyanja group in 2002. This group’s name is derived from a local slag “Ebishegura” which is a reference to the tree species found in the territory of this family, Rushegura gorilla family is under the leadership of silverback of a 25 year old dominant silverback Mwirima who is one of the strongest silverbacks in Bwindi forests.
Bitukura Gorilla Family
Bitukura gorilla family is a group of 14 individuals found in Ruhija sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this group consists of 4 silverbacks and is under the leadership of silverback Ndahura who took over from silver Karamuzi who is now a retired silverback. Originally this group consisted of 24 members during its habituation which was completed in October of 2008, unlike other groups whose habituation takes about 2-3 years. This family’s habitation lasted only for 15 months.
Oruzogo Gorilla Family
Oruzogo gorilla family is found in Ruhija sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this family is one of the large family in the park consisting of 2 silverbacks and is under the leadership of silver back Tibirikwata. This family was opened for trekking in 2011 and since then many births have occurred in the family, females like Ntamurungi gave birth in June of 2011, Musi in October of 2011 and Kakoba in march of 2012.
Nkuringo Gorilla Family
Nkuringo gorilla family is found in Nkuringo sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this group gets its name from around hill were its members were first sighted thus the name Nkuringo which is a Rukiga slag. Nkuringo gorilla group consists of 11 family members and initially it was led by silverback Nkuringo until his death in 2008, Nkuringo was succeeded by his Safari though he had two sons Rafiki and safari.
Nshongi Gorilla Family
Nshongi gorilla family was once the biggest gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park during its habitation with 37 individuals, this gorilla family is found in Rushaga sector and still it is one of the big gorilla families as it consists of 26 members and 4 silverbacks. Nshongi gorilla family gets its name from the site near the river where its members were first sighted, Nshongi is alcohol slag used as a reference to the deep honey-like color of the river. This family was opened for mountain gorilla trekking in September of 2009 and by then it consisted of 37 family families and in 2010 10 members split from the group led by Mishaya which left the Nshongi gorilla family with only 26 individuals.
Mishaya Gorilla Family
Mishaya gorilla family is a split gorilla found in Rushaga sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this family split from Nshongi gorilla family in 2010 and its breakaway it was led by silverback Mishaya who also some female members from other groups to form his own. Mishaya gorilla family consists of 12 family members under the leadership of silverback Mishaya, silverback Mishaya is fond of picking fights with other silverbacks in Bwindi forests and during one fight he got wounded during the fights and lucky enough he was treated by gorilla conservation doctors.
Kahungye Gorilla Family –
Kahungye gorilla family is a family of 13 members including 3 silverbacks found in the Rushaga sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this family originally had 27 members during its habituation but some members split from the family create their families such as Busingye. Kahungye gorilla group consists of 3 silverbacks that are Rumansi, Ruhamuka and Gwigi and it is under the leadersp of silverback Gwigi.
Bweza Gorilla Family
Bweza gorilla family is found in Rushaga sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this family is a split family from Nshongi gorilla family which was once the largest habituated family in Bwindi and its splitting away was led by silverback Bweza who left the family in 2012. Bweza gorilla family consists of 9 members and it is under the leadership of silverback Bweza.
Busingye Gorilla Family
Busingye gorilla family is a group of 9 members found in the Rushaga sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this group is a split group from Kahungye gorilla family. Busingye gorilla family split from Kahungye gorilla family in 2012 and it was opened for trekking in 2013, this group gets its name from a local slag meaning peace. Busingye gorilla family is under the leadership of dominant silverback Busingye who is a very ambitious silver back and well known for stealing females from other groups as a way of showing his power over other groups.
Mukiza gorilla family
Mukiza gorilla family was formerly known as Kyaguriro before the split following the death of silverback Rukina who was the leader of the group, silverback Rukina was succeeded by silver Mukiza who was not strong enough to keep the family together which resulted into together.
Silver back Rukara attacked the family and raided most of the family members leading to formation of another gorilla family called Kyaguriro B. Kyaguriro A was later named Mukiza gorilla family a name it got from the ruling silverback of the group, this family is found in Ruhija gorilla sector and it consists of 13 individuals including 1 silverback, 6 adult females, 2 sub-adults, I juvenile and 3 infants.
Kyaguriro Gorilla Family
Kyaguriro gorilla family also B is found in the Ruhija sector of the park where it is trekked, this family consists of 15 members under the leadership of silverback Rukina who grabbed control of the group from Zeus an old silverback. Kyaguriro gorilla group is a special group set aside for research by conservationists who study various behavior tendencies of mountain gorillas.
Bushaho gorilla family
Bushaho gorilla family is a group of 9 members found in the Nkuringo sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this family was habituated in the same time with Bukingi gorilla group and it is under the leadership of silverback Bahati.
Bukingi gorilla family
Bukingi gorilla family is found in Rushaga sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park and it is under the leadership of silverback Bukingi.
Katwe gorilla family
Katwe gorilla family is one of the newly habituated gorilla families in Bwindi impenetrable national park found in Buhoma sector, this group was open for trekking in 2018 and currently it consists of 10 individuals including 1 silverback, 3 black-backs, 4 adult females and 2 babies.
Kutu gorilla family
Kutu gorilla family is found in Rushaga sector, this family is also one of the newly habituated gorilla families consisting of 8 members with 1 silverback.
Mucunguzi gorilla family
Mucunguzi gorilla family is a group of 8 members under the leadership of silverback Mucunguzi, this family is found in the Rushaga gorilla sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park. Silverback Rushaga is known for being a troublesome silverback and known for attacking other silverbacks and stealing female gorillas from other families.
Binyindo gorilla family
Binyindo gorilla family is found in Buhoma gorilla sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park consisting of 6 members with 1 silverback, this family is the latest gorilla family to be included among the habituated gorilla families in Bwindi impenetrable national park.
Christmas gorilla family
Christmas gorilla family is found in Nkuringo gorilla sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park, this family consists of 9 members with only 1 silverback and it derives its name from silverback Christmas the leader of the family.
Gorilla Families in Mgahinga National Park
Mgahinga national park is also found in south western Uganda, this park is the smallest national park in Uganda covering an area of 33.7 square kilometers. Unlike Bwindi impenetrable national park, Mgahinga national park is a home to only gorilla family that is Nyakagezi gorilla family.
Nyakagezi Gorilla Family
Nyakagezi is the only habituated mountain gorilla family in Mgahinga national park, this family consists of 10 mountain gorillas with 2 silverbacks and under led by dominant silverback Mark. Nyakagezi gorilla group is so unpredicted and it often migrates to Rwanda’s volcano national park and Congo Virunga national park, their mobile nature makes them difficult to trek but currently they have settled in the forests of Mgahinga national park.
