Mountain gorilla groups in Volcanoes National Park
Mountain gorilla groups in Volcanoes National Park
Mountain gorilla groups in Volcanoes National Park : Volcanoes national park is a famous Rwanda safari destination known for mountain gorilla trekking located in the far northwest region of Rwanda in Kinigi Ruhengeri, the park is also known as Par National Des Volcans in French.
Volcanoes national park covers an area of 16000 hectares stretching of Virunga volcanoes dominated by dense Afro-Montane forests, mountain gorillas are the main tourist attraction in Volcanoes national park. Mountain gorillas in this park include wild and habituated gorillas, the habituated gorillas underwent through habituation process as a way of making them comfortable with human presence. Habituated mountain gorillas are 11 in number and it is these gorillas which are encountered during mountain gorilla trekking adventures.
Mountain gorillas groups in Volcanoes national park include
- Amahoro gorilla group
Amahoro gorilla group is one of the beautiful mountain gorilla families in Volcanoes national park lead by a calm silverback Ubumwe, this group is name from a Kinyarwanda slag meaning “peaceful” which is portrayed by the leader of the group. Amahoro gorilla group resides up on the slopes of Mount Visoke/ Bisoke.
Amahoro gorilla group has 18 members including 2 silverbacks
- Hirwa gorilla group
Hirwa gorilla group is a relatively newly group in Volcanoes national park which was formed by members from Group 13, Susa and Sabyinyo gorilla groups, this group is led by Munyinya silver back after leaving the Susa gorilla group. He left with 2 females and along the way he formed a new group. Hirwa gorilla group is found on the foothills of Mount Sabyinyo on the Gahinga side, in 2011 this group welcomed a 2 sets of twins.
Hirwa gorilla group has 16 members including 1 silverback
- Sabyinyo gorilla group
Sabyinyo gorilla group is an impressive mountain gorilla group with the biggest silverback of all silverbacks in Volcanoes national park “silverback Guhonda”, this gorilla group is situated closest to the park’s headquarters in the gentle slopes between Mount Sabyinyo and Gahinga. This gorilla group can easily be accessed and an ideal group for trekkers who are weary of tracking long distances, Sabyinyo gorilla group is named after Mount Sabyinyo.
Sabyinyo gorilla group has 13 members including 2 silverbacks
- Kwitonda gorilla group
Kwitonda gorilla group is a migrate mountain gorilla group from Democratic republic of Congo but permanently settle in Rwanda on the upper slopes of Mount Muhabura, basing on where this group is located, it is moderately difficult to trek.
Kwitonda gorilla group has 23 members including 4 silverbacks
- Group 13(Agashya gorilla group)
Group 13 later named Agashya gorilla group meaning special is the first habituated gorilla family in Volcanoes national park and at the time of its habituation, it has 13 gorilla families. Group 13 is found in the same area as Sabyinyo group although it sometimes moves deeper into the mountain.
Group 13 (Agashya gorilla group) currently has 27 members including 1 silverback
- Umubanogorilla group
Umubano gorilla group was formed by silverback Charles who broke off from Amahoro gorilla group together with some females he broke away with, this group is named from a Kinyarwanda slag Umubano meaning “living together”.
Umubano gorilla group has 13 members including 2 silverbacks.
- Ugenda gorilla group
Ugenda gorilla group is an interesting mountain gorilla group with a unique behavior of roaming from place to place around the Karisimbi area (Mount Bisoke) where it is found, because of where is found this group is generally not too difficult to trek.
Ugenda gorilla group has 11 members 2 silverbacks
- Susa (A) gorilla group
Susa (A) gorilla group is the biggest gorilla group in Volcanoes national park which has studied by Dian Fossey during her research about mountain gorillas, at this time the group has 41 gorillas. Susa A gorilla group is known for its rare twins named Byishimo and Impano, in 2018 this group split and the split members formed the Karisimbi gorilla group.
Susa A gorilla group 33 members with 2 silverbacks
- Karisimbi / Susa B gorilla group
Karisimbi / Susa B gorilla group is a split group from Susa A gorilla group which was then the largest gorilla group in Volcanoes national park, this group is one of the hardest gorilla group to trek residing on the upper slopes of Mount Karisimbi.
Karisimbi / Susa B gorilla group has 16 members with 2 silverbacks.
- Bwenge gorilla group
Bwenge gorilla group was formed by silverback Bwenge after breaking away with females from other gorilla groups, this gorilla is named a Kinyarwanda slag Bwenge translated as “Wisdom” and occupies the slopes between Karisimbi and Bisoke volcanoes.
Titus gorilla group
Titus gorilla group was formed during the days of Dian Fossey’s research at Karisoke research center.
