Mountain Gorilla Families in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Mountain Gorilla Families in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park: Bwindi impenetrable national park is the prime habitat of mountain gorillas in the world recognized for habiting half of the world’s mountain gorilla population with over 600 individuals, Bwindi impenetrable national park is located in the south western region of Uganda covering an area of 331 square kilometers. Bwindi impenetrable national park is a home to over 36 mountain gorilla groups with only 18 habituated gorilla families, these mountain gorilla groups are found in 4 sectors of the park that are Buhoma, Rushaga, Ruhija, and Nkuringo.

Mountain gorilla Families in Bwindi impenetrable national include

Mubare gorilla family: Mubare gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is found and trekked in Buhoma sector, this family is the oldest habituated gorilla family in Uganda. Mubare gorilla family initially consisted of 18 family members under the leadership of dominant silverback Ruhondenza and currently it consists of 9 family members under the leadership of dominant silverback Kanyonyi.

Habyinyanja gorilla family: Habyinyanja gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is found and trekked in Buhoma sector, this family was fully habituated and opened for mountain gorilla trekking in 1977. Habyinyanja gorilla family had family struggles which caused some members to form their own group called Rushegura, during the time of its habituation Habyinyanja gorilla family was under the leadership of dominant silverback Munguris locally meaning “old man”. When Munguris died his leadership was taken over by his two brothers Mwirima and Rwansigazi who later didn’t agree about ruling the family, this family stayed under the leadership of Rwansigazi.

Rushegura gorilla family: Rushegura gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is found and trekked in Buhoma sector, this family was open for gorilla trekking in 2002 with dominant silverback Mwirima who broke away from Habyinyanja gorilla family as a leader. Silverback Mwirima died in 2014 and the leadership of the group was taken by Kabukojo.

Katwe gorilla family: Katwe gorilla family is one of the newly habituated gorilla families in Bwindi impenetrable national park found and trekked in Buhoma sector, this family was opened for trekking in 2018 and consists of 8 family members with 4 adult females, 2 infants, 2 black backs and 1 silverback.

Nkuringo gorilla family: Nkuringo gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park found and trekked in Nkuringo sector, this family consists of 19 family members with 2 silverbacks under the leadership of silverback Rafiki. Nkuringo gorilla family was opened for trekking in 2004 under the leadership of Nkuringo from whom the family gets its name, silverback Nkuringo died in 2004 and was succeeded by his eldest son Rafiki. Nkuringo gorilla family is known for having received twins Muhoza and Katungi, unfortunately Katungi died before his 2nd birthday.

Bushaho gorilla family: Bushaho gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park found and trekked in Nkuringo sector, this family consists of 8 family members under the leadership of silverback Bahati who broke away from Nkuringo group.

Christmas gorilla family: Christmas gorilla family is one of the newest gorilla families in Bwindi impenetrable national park found and trekked in Nkuringo sector, this family consists of 9 family members under the leadership of silverback Christmas. Christmas gorilla family derives its name from its dominant silverback Christmas who was born on Christmas day.

Bitukura gorilla family: Bitukura gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is known for peacefully and playful family members, this family consists of 14 family members with 4 silverbacks under the leadership of silverback Ndahura the second youngest silverback in the family. Bitukura gorilla family was first sighted in 2007 with 24 family members and the habituation took 2years which is a shorter period than the usual habituation process, Ndahura the leader of this family took over power from Karumazi who aged and could no longer fight and defend the family.

Oruzogo gorilla family: Oruzogo gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is found and trekked in Ruhija sector, this family was open for gorilla trekking in 2011 and it is known for consisting of playful juveniles. Oruzogo gorilla family consists of 25 members with 2 silverbacks under the leadership of Tebirikwata, this family is the second habituated gorilla in the Ruhija sector. Some of the family members in Oruzogo gorilla family include Busungu, Bwoba and Kakanga.

Kyaguriro gorilla family: Kyaguriro gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is one of the most treasured gorilla families found and trekked in Ruhija sector, Kyaguriro gorilla family was a reserved family research by the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in 1999. This family was one of the large families in Bwindi impenetrable national park with 20 family members who later split as silverback Mukiza left to form his own group.

Nshongi gorilla family: Nshongi gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is the largest gorilla family found and trekked in Rushaga sector consisting of 26 family members under the leadership of dominant silverback Nshongi, this family was fully habituated and open for trekking in 2009. Nshongi gorilla group derives its name from River Nshongi where some members of this family were first sighted, initially Nshongi gorilla family consisted of 36 family individuals until 2010 when 10 family members led by Mishaya broke away to form their own group named Mishaya gorilla family.

Mishaya gorilla family: Mishaya gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is a breakaway family from Nshongi gorilla family found and trekked in Rushaga sector, Mishaya gorilla group consists of 10 gorilla families under the leadership of silverback Mwine. This group is famous for dominant silverback Mishaya, the first leader of this family for the fights he got engaged in 2020, in this fight Mishaya sustained injuries and he was rescued by a Gorilla vet. In this fight the then dominant silverback lost one of his infants, in 2014 Mishaya died and was succeeded by Silverback Mwine.

Bweza gorilla family: Bweza gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is the second largest habituated gorilla family after Nshongi gorilla family found and trekked in Rushaga sector, in 2010 some members of Bweza gorilla family led by silverback Mishaya broke away to form Mishaya gorilla family. Currently Bweza gorilla family consists of 11 family members under the leadership of dominant silverback Kakono.

Kahungye gorilla family: Kahungye gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park found and trekked in Rushaga sector is a family of 17 members with 3 silverbacks, 6 females, 3 juveniles, 3 black backs and 2 infants. Kahungye gorilla family was fully habituated and open for mountain gorilla trekking in 2011 and by then the group was among the big gorilla families with 27 members, as a result of the big size the group split in two groups to make Busigye gorilla family.

Busigye gorilla family: Busigye gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is found and trekked in Rushaga sector and is one of the newly habituated families in the park, this family is broke away family from Kahungye family in June 2012. Busigye gorilla family comprises of 9 family members with 1 silverback.

Bikyingi gorilla family: Bikyingi gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is found and trekked in Rushaga sector, this family was formed by members from Mishaya gorilla family and other wild mountain gorillas. Bikyingi gorilla family comprises of 12 individuals and is under the leadership of dominant silverback Bikyingi who is a very friendly silverback to all his peers.

Rwigi gorilla family: Rwigi gorilla family is one of the newly habituated gorilla families in Bwindi impenetrable national found and trekked in Rushaga sector, this family is a breakaway family from Kahungye gorilla family and consists of 6 family individuals under the leadership of dominant silverback Rwigi.

Mucunguzi gorilla family: Mucunguzi gorilla family in Bwindi impenetrable national park is found and trekked in Rushaga sector, this family is a split family from Bweza family following continuous disputes between silverbacks. Mucunguzi gorilla family consists of 8 family members under the leadership of dominant silverback Mucunguzi from whom the family gets its name.