The Different Rwanda Gorilla Families - Rwanda Safari news

Gorilla Safaris in Rwanda are the most done activities in VolcanoesNational Park Rwanda, attracting around 80 people, on a daily basis to have with the endangered gorillas, a face-to-face interaction. Rwanda’s Volcanoes national park has a total of 10 Gorilla groups, which have been habituated, for trekking or to tolerate human presence.

Each of the family is allocated to a maximum of eight people for only a maximum of hour. The experience of trekking each of Gorilla groups is different from the other in terms of size, history and the location, giving each traveler on Rwanda Gorilla Safaris a different unique experience. Below are Gorilla groups in Rwanda

Titus Family: - Dominated by Titus – the silverback who leads the entire family, the group Was the first one to be habituated in the days of Dian Fossey hence having great history. Poachers threatened the expansion of the family since most family members were killed for meat. Titus is the dominant silverback who leads the entire family.

Sabyinyo Family: - This Rwanda Gorilla Family is located in the slopes of Mount Sabyinyo, after which this gorilla family was named. The group comprises of 13 members led by one big Dominant silver back called Guhonda

Amahoro Family: - This Gorilla group comprise of 18 members including two silverbacks. As its name suggests, this family is considered to be the most peaceful, and has proved peaceful living over time. The group is led by Ubumwe as a dominant silverback and lives on the slopes of Mount karisimbi, which make it’s trekking a bit tiresome but the experience is memorable.

Umubano family: - Led by the Charles, the dominant silverback, Umubano was the formerly part of the peaceful amahoro group, which broke up after disagreements between the main leaders, Charles and Ubumwe. However, the two families live in peace and they sometimes meet but separate at the end of the day but n a peaceful way.

Susa family: - This is the largest family with roughly 38 members and is named after river Susa that originates from the virunga volcanoes. This group still has the oldest gorilla that was born in 1976.

Karisimbi group (Susa B): - This family was formed in the fall of 2008 after splitting from the large Susa family to become independent, hence also known as Susa B, consisting of 16 members including 2 silver backs. It inhabits the upper slopes of mount karisimbi at an altitude of almost 4507m, which make it so strenuous to trek.

Bwenge Family: - The family is led by Bwenge silverback consisting of 11 members, and was recently opened up to trekkers in 2007 residing in the slopes of Mount karisimbi. After early days of its formation, bwenge family lost over 6 member groups which affected its expansion but has now stabilized and expanding day by day.

Hirwa group: - Was habituated in 2006 and its name means “Lucky one”. The group has 16 members who joined from other families. The family was blessed with asset of twins in 2017 which surely proved that its indeed a lucky one. Trekking this gorilla family comes along with hiking to foothills of Mt Gahinga and Mt Sabyinyo, where it resides.

Agashya Family: - The family has 27 members led by Agashya the dominant silverback who took over power from Nyakarima the former silverback. Agashya means news and the family lives in the forested saddle between Sabyinyo and Mount Gahinga.

Kwitonda group: - Residing in the slopes of Mt Muhabura, Kwitonda family is led by Kwitonda and the family formerly lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo before it migrated to Rwanda. Kwitonda is a Kinyarwanda word meaning the “the humble one”.

Conclusively therefore, with all these Gorilla Families, it’s easy to choose the gorilla family of your choice and enjoy a memorable Rwanda gorillatrekking Safari experience.

Gorillas in Africa can also be encountered by travelers who pertake Congo Gorilla Safaris and Uganda Gorilla Safaris too, as these endangered species thrive only in these three countries.