Mountain Gorilla Families in Volcanoes National Park

Mountain Gorilla Families in Volcanoes National Park: Volcanoes national park is a famous habitat for mountain gorillas and an excellent destination for mountain gorilla trekking safaris, volcanoes national park is located in northwest region of Rwanda in Musaze, Ruhengeri. This park is heavily forested covering an area of 160 square kilometers and dotted by 5 of 8 volcanoes of Virunga volcanoes, these volcanoes include Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo volcano.

Mountain gorillas in Volcanoes national park are very social primates living on the high altitudes of the forested volcanoes, there are many mountain gorilla in Volcanoes national park but there are only 10 habituated mountain gorillas and they include:

Susa Gorilla family (Susa A Family)

Susa Gorilla group is the largest mountain gorilla family in Volcanoes national park and Rwanda as well, this family initially comprised of 42 family members with 2 silverbacks and a set of twins (Impano and Byishimo) until some members split off due to family conflicts. Susa gorilla family derives its name from Susa River where its members were first found during habituation process, particular this family was used for research by primatologist Dian Fossey at Karisoke Research center.

Currently Susa gorilla family comprises of 28 family members with 3 silverbacks.

Karisimbi Gorilla Family (Susa-B)

Karisimbi gorilla family is one of the big families in Volcanoes national park comprised of 28 family members with 3 silverbacks, this family gets its name from Susa River and it got famous for being the family research by an American zoologist Dian Fossey. Susa family was a family of 42 family members

Sabyinyo Gorilla Family

Sabyinyo gorilla family is found and trekked on mountain Sabyinyo, this family is comprised of 8 family members and is under the leadership of silverback Guhonda, silverback Guhonda weighs 220 kgs making it one of the largest mountain gorillas in Volcanoes national park. Sabyinyo gorilla family is named after a Kinyarwanda slag meaning Old man’s teeth which is also the name to Mount Sabyinyo where it is found.

Amahoro Gorilla Family

Amahoro gorilla family is found and trekked on the slopes of Mount Visoke, this family is composed 18 family members with 2 silverback and it is led by dominant silverback Ubumbwe. The name Amahoro is a Kinyarwanda slag meaning peace, this name rhymes with the peaceful nature of the leader of this group, Silverback Ubumbwe is so peaceful that he has lost some of his family members due to his peaceful nature such as silverback Charles who broke away to form his own family.

Umubano Gorilla Family

Umubano gorilla family is a family of 13 family members comprising of 1 silverback, 1 sub-adult, 3 adult females and 6 infant and led by silverback Charles, this family is a split family from Amahoro family under the leadership of silverback Ubumbwe. During the leaders of silverback Ubumbwe he faced constant confrontations from the yet to be fully grown silverback Charles, the conflict dragged on leading to the breakaway of Charles thus forming his own gorilla family.

Agashya Gorilla Family

Agashya gorilla family is formerly known as Group 13 which refers to the 13 initial members of the group, at that time this family was under the leadership of dominant silverback Nyakarima who was later overthrown by silverback Agashya. After silverback Agashya taking over the leadership of the group its name was changed to Agasha gorilla family after its leader, the word Agashya is a local Kinyarwanda slag meaning news. Agashya gorilla family is found and trekked on the slopes of Mount Sabyinyo and it is composed of 27 family members thus being one of the biggest gorilla families in volcanoes national park.

Kwitonda Gorilla Family

Kwitonda gorilla family is one of the largest mountain gorilla families in volcanoes national park consisting of 23 family members with 4 silverbacks, this family is led by a dominant silverback Kwitonda and it gets its name from a local Kinyarwanda slag Kwitonda which means “humble”. Kwitonda gorilla family is said to have live Virunga national park of Democratic Republic of Congo and later migrated to the slopes of Mount Muhabura where its found and trekked.

Hirwa Gorilla Family

Hirwa gorilla family is one of the newly habituated gorilla family in Rwanda and volcanoes national park found and trekked on the slopes Sabyinyo volcano, Hirwa family is composed of 16 family members. This family’s members split from Group 13 and Sabyinyo gorilla family to form Hirwa gorilla family, the name of this family explains the mostly lucky its members got together to form one group voluntarily which very unusual to mountain gorillas. Hirwa gorilla family is a difficult group to trek because of its location.

Bwenge Gorilla Family

Bwenge gorilla family is found and trekked on the slopes mount Visoke and named after a Kinyarwanda local slag meaning wisdom, Bwenge gorilla family is composed of 11 family members and led by a dominant silverback Bwenge. Bwenge formed this group after leaving his mother group, some female gorillas from other groups joined him to form the present members of the family in additional to newly born gorillas. By 2007, Bwenge gorilla family was fully habituated and open for mountain gorilla trekking experience, Bwenge gorilla family is one of the close located mountain gorilla families which makes the family ideal for family trekkers.

Ugenda Gorilla Family

Ugenda gorilla family is found and trekked in the Karisimbi area named after a Kinyarwanda word meaning “being on move”, this family comprises of 11 family member with 2 silverbacks and it is named after a Kinyarwanda slag meaning lucky. Ugenda gorilla family’s name explains the mobile nature of this family, this family usually moves which makes tracking it very hard.