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Gorilla Tracking in Rwanda.

Gorilla families are divided into 2 sections.  Those for study or research purposes which are strictly accessed by scientists plus researchers only. Among these are Beetsme and Pablo’s Shida’s which have the highest number of gorillas.

Habituated groups for visitors are:

  1. Susa Group (Susa A Family) –

This is the gorilla group that was researched by Dian Fossey. It derived its name from River Susa which flows in the home range of these gorillas. The family is the most challenging to trek since it normally stays up in the higher ranges of the mountains however the RDB’s Tourism and Conservation trackers will know in advance where the group is located the day before in advance for the next trackers. Sometimes tourists have been barred from tracking the group because of its distant location. This group is very impressive with a family size of 28 gorilla individuals with three Silverbacks. This was the biggest gorilla group prior to separating into two. The group had 42 individuals and when visited people would see so many gorillas scattered in the entire area. This group is renowned for its infant twins; Byishimo and Impano which are pretty playful. Normally, a mother leaves one of the twins behind, since it is very hard for her to take care of the two infants.  It also has one of Rwanda’s oldest habituated gorillas like Poppy who was born in 1976. Poppy is thought to be among the gorillas which were in the initial gorilla group that Dian Fossey’s conducted her research.

  1. Karisimbi Family (Susa-B)

This family separated from the initial Susa (Susa-A) family and today it is referred to as Susa-B or the Karisimbi Group. It has 15 individuals and normally found on the slopes of Mt Karisimbi Volcano, the highest peak of Rwanda. The Karisimbi Group is more appropriate for serious hikers. It seems that they have formed their home in the higher mountain slopes of the Karisimbi caldera. So visiting this group may take a full day hike. The group at times moves to very high altitude making the tracking pretty challenging. Tracking the gorilla family at times can be stopped due to its faraway location.

  1. Sabyinyo Gorilla Group

Sabyinyo can easily be reached and it is led by a strong silverback Guhonda. This is the biggest silverback of all the gorilla groups, since it is very massive in physical appearance. In comparison to other gorilla families, Sabyinyo has fewer members although it is just as impressive. This group derived its name from Sabyinyo volcano and it means an “old man’s teeth”. The Sabyinyo group is found nearest to the border of the park with 8 individuals that include one Silverback (which is the biggest in the entire park); three Adult females; a youthful female; two Juveniles as well as a Baby gorilla.

  1. Amahoro Gorilla Group

Amahoro which means “peaceful group”, is the most calm gorilla group. This group has seventeen individuals: a Silverback; two Black-backs; five Adult females; 2 Sub-adult males; 2 Juveniles as well as 5 Babies.  Nonetheless, the peace comes at a good price. Ubumwe, the silverback of this group is peaceful, really easy going as well as serene,  but he has sadly lost some group members to the Umubano group led by Charles. To see the Amahoro you need to maneuver over a somewhat steep climb but the climb is worth it when you finally find this amazing group.

  1. Umubano Group

Which means “neighborliness”, the Umubano family comprises of eleven individuals: a Silverback; a Sub-adult male; three Adult females as well as six Babies. Umubano were initially members of Amahoro group but separated following Ubumwe the then dominant silverback being overpowered by Charles, who is the current leader of Umubano. As Charles grew into an adult silverback just as Ubumwe, he couldn’t stand taking orders so he decided to fight and eventually challenged Ubumwe. This fight went on for some weeks and nearly months. Eventually, Charles was able to take a couple of females from Ubumwe hence forming  this new group; the Umubano. From that time, he commands a lot of respect and is appreciated by Ubumwe. On a number of occasions interactions between these two silverbacks have been witnessed, however, no fights have been witnessed since that big fight.

  1. 13 Group (the Agasha Group)

During its first habituation the group had 13 members. Today the group has nearly 25 members: a Silverback; twelve Adult females; two Sub adult female; three Juvenile as well as seven Babies. Previously this group was led by Nyakarima who was overpowered by Agashya whose name means “the news”. In fact Agashya made headlines by first observing and estimating the strengths of Nyakarima and finally challenged him to a brutal fight taking away his entire group. This greatly shocked Nyakarima and was it an extraordinary event in witnessed gorilla history. Then Agashya shifted up the volcano to safe guard his group and ensure that Nyakarima didn’t find them. Since then, Agashya has increased the number of members in his group by snatching some from other groups and incorporating other solitary gorillas, speedily the group expanded from 12 up to 25 individuals. Agashya is also known, at any first sign of danger, to take his entire grou

Gorilla families are divided into 2 sections.  Those for study or research purposes which are strictly accessed by scientists plus researchers only. Among these are Beetsme and Pablo’s Shida’s which have the highest number of gorillas.

Habituated groups for visitors are:

  1. Susa Group (Susa A Family) –

This is the gorilla group that was researched by Dian Fossey. It derived its name from River Susa which flows in the home range of these gorillas. The family is the most challenging to trek since it normally stays up in the higher ranges of the mountains however the RDB’s Tourism and Conservation trackers will know in advance where the group is located the day before in advance for the next trackers. Sometimes tourists have been barred from tracking the group because of its distant location. This group is very impressive with a family size of 28 gorilla individuals with three Silverbacks. This was the biggest gorilla group prior to separating into two. The group had 42 individuals and when visited people would see so many gorillas scattered in the entire area. This group is renowned for its infant twins; Byishimo and Impano which are pretty playful. Normally, a mother leaves one of the twins behind, since it is very hard for her to take care of the two infants.  It also has one of Rwanda’s oldest habituated gorillas like Poppy who was born in 1976. Poppy is thought to be among the gorillas which were in the initial gorilla group that Dian Fossey’s conducted her research.

  1. Karisimbi Family (Susa-B)

This family separated from the initial Susa (Susa-A) family and today it is referred to as Susa-B or the Karisimbi Group. It has 15 individuals and normally found on the slopes of Mt Karisimbi Volcano, the highest peak of Rwanda. The Karisimbi Group is more appropriate for serious hikers. It seems that they have formed their home in the higher mountain slopes of the Karisimbi caldera. So visiting this group may take a full day hike. The group at times moves to very high altitude making the tracking pretty challenging. Tracking the gorilla family at times can be stopped due to its faraway location.

  1. Sabyinyo Gorilla Group

Sabyinyo can easily be reached and it is led by a strong silverback Guhonda. This is the biggest silverback of all the gorilla groups, since it is very massive in physical appearance. In comparison to other gorilla families, Sabyinyo has fewer members although it is just as impressive. This group derived its name from Sabyinyo volcano and it means an “old man’s teeth”. The Sabyinyo group is found nearest to the border of the park with 8 individuals that include one Silverback (which is the biggest in the entire park); three Adult females; a youthful female; two Juveniles as well as a Baby gorilla.

  1. Amahoro Gorilla Group

Amahoro which means “peaceful group”, is the most calm gorilla group. This group has seventeen individuals: a Silverback; two Black-backs; five Adult females; 2 Sub-adult males; 2 Juveniles as well as 5 Babies.  Nonetheless, the peace comes at a good price. Ubumwe, the silverback of this group is peaceful, really easy going as well as serene,  but he has sadly lost some group members to the Umubano group led by Charles. To see the Amahoro you need to maneuver over a somewhat steep climb but the climb is worth it when you finally find this amazing group.

  1. Umubano Group

Which means “neighborliness”, the Umubano family comprises of eleven individuals: a Silverback; a Sub-adult male; three Adult females as well as six Babies. Umubano were initially members of Amahoro group but separated following Ubumwe the then dominant silverback being overpowered by Charles, who is the current leader of Umubano. As Charles grew into an adult silverback just as Ubumwe, he couldn’t stand taking orders so he decided to fight and eventually challenged Ubumwe. This fight went on for some weeks and nearly months. Eventually, Charles was able to take a couple of females from Ubumwe hence forming  this new group; the Umubano. From that time, he commands a lot of respect and is appreciated by Ubumwe. On a number of occasions interactions between these two silverbacks have been witnessed, however, no fights have been witnessed since that big fight.

  1. 13 Group (the Agasha Group)

During its first habituation the group had 13 members. Today the group has nearly 25 members: a Silverback; twelve Adult females; two Sub adult female; three Juvenile as well as seven Babies. Previously this group was led by Nyakarima who was overpowered by Agashya whose name means “the news”. In fact Agashya made headlines by first observing and estimating the strengths of Nyakarima and finally challenged him to a brutal fight taking away his entire group. This greatly shocked Nyakarima and was it an extraordinary event in witnessed gorilla history. Then Agashya shifted up the volcano to safe guard his group and ensure that Nyakarima didn’t find them. Since then, Agashya has increased the number of members in his group by snatching some from other groups and incorporating other solitary gorillas, speedily the group expanded from 12 up to 25 individuals. Agashya is also known, at any first sign of danger, to take his entire group to the peak of the volcano. One time, while some tourists had gone to observe the Group 13 this scenario occurred. Agashya imagined that there was an opponent silverback which was about to fight him. In reaction, he led his group to the volcano. Whenever we closed in to the group they would go further away until we couldn’t go any further.  So this is another challenging group to see.

  1. Kwitonda Family

This group has 18 members and it is led by Kwitonda the silverback whose name means the “humble one” it also has 2 silverbacks plus a blackback. It moved from the DRC, and normally stays far away which makes it challenging to trek. This along with the Susa B are some of the most challenging groups to find.

  1. Hirwa Group, which means “lucky one”

This group became renowned on 17th June 2006 after trackers witnessed its creation when some members from 2 separate families the Group 13 and the Sabyinyo group joined to form a smaller group at the time. Fortunately, some other gorillas also joined this group and today the Hirwa group has nine individuals: one Silverback; three Adult females; two Sub adult females as well as 3 Babies. Although it is the newest gorilla group, Hirwa shows strength and safeguards its members well.

  1. Bwenge Family

This family has 11 members with a Silverback. It is mostly seen in the Slopes of Karisoke Volcano. Bwenge is the silverback that leads the group which was established in 2007 after he left his birth group and was joined by other females coming from other gorilla groups. The group has faced some challenging times which included the death of six infants. Today this group is becoming strong with two successful births in the past couple years as well as a strong silverback leader. This trek to visit the group is challenging and includes an ascent of nearly 3 hours. It seems this is the group which featured in the legendary movie ‘Gorillas in the Mist’.

  1. Ugenda Family

This group lives in Rwanda’s Karisimbi area. It comprises of 11 gorillas including 2 silverbacks. Its acquired this name which means “being on the move” since the family was constantly moving from one place to another. Because it is constant moving, tracking it is normally challenging and involves prolonged movement to find them.