In Rwanda, you’ll only track Rwanda Gorilla Families within Volcanoes Park (Parc National des Volcanos), a neighborhood of the larger Virunga mountains. Approximately 480 Rwanda Gorilla Families sleep in the Virunga complex and reside on the altitude range of two,300 to 4,500 meters within the southern area of Virunga park (in the DRC), also because the Volcanoes park in Rwanda Gorilla Families and a few in Uganda’s Mgahinga park.
Rwanda Gorilla Families are divided into 2; 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 very best number of gorillas.
There also are ten habituated gorilla families that are for tourism purposes, so these are available for trekkers to go to. At most 8 people may visit each of the gorilla groups a day and you’ll spend at the most one hour. Among these gorilla groups are the: Ugenda, Umubano, Susa group, Karinsimbi, Sabinyo, Hirwa, Amahoro, Bwengye, Group 13 (the Agasha group), and therefore the Kwitonda. of these are mountain gorillas,” Eckhart, G.; Lanjouw, A. (2008). Mountain Gorillas: Biology, Conservation, and Coexistence.” Susa Group (Susa A Family).
this is often the gorilla group that was researched by Dian Fossey.
It derived its name from River Susa which flows within the home territory of those gorillas. The family is that the most challenging to trek since it normally stays up within the higher ranges of the mountains however the RDB’s Tourism and Conservation trackers will know beforehand how the group is found the day before beforehand for subsequent trackers. Sometimes tourists are barred from tracking the group due to its distant location.
Gorilla group name
This group is extremely impressive with a family size of 28 gorilla individuals with three Silverbacks. This was the most important gorilla group before separating into two. The group had 42 individuals and when visited people would see numerous gorillas scattered within the entire area. This group is renowned for its infant twins; Byishimo and Impano which are pretty playful. It also has one among Rwanda’s oldest habituated gorillas like Poppy who was born in 1976. Poppy is assumed to be among the gorillas which were within the initial gorilla group that Dian Fossey’s conducted her research.
normally, a mother dumps one among its twins, since it’s nearly hard for her to require care of the 2 infants. As we observed the mother – Nyabitondore, take excellent care of her twins, Impano and Byishimo, we occasionally imagined that she would run mad from this big task. However, now you’ll see the twins fooling around amidst other gorillas.
Karisimbi Family (Susa-B)

This family separated from the initial Susa (Susa-A) family and today it’s mentioned as Susa-B or the Karisimbi Group. it’s 15 individuals and normally found on the slopes of Mt Karisimbi Volcano (4507Meters) the very best peak of Rwanda. Karisimbi Group is best appropriate for serious hikers. It seems that they need to form their range in the upper mountain slopes of Karisimbi caldera. So, visiting this group may take a full day hike. The group sometimes moves to higher altitudes making the tracking pretty challenging. But, RDB tourism plus conservation guides are going to be conscious of the situation of the gorilla group the previous day. Tracking the gorilla family sometimes is often stopped thanks to its faraway location.
Sabyinyo Gorilla Group – Rwanda Gorilla Families
Sabyinyo can easily be reached and it’s led by a robust silverback Guhonda. this is often the most important silverback of all the gorilla groups since it’s very massive in physical appearance. Actually, Guhonda has maintained his main competitor, Ryango, from his group as a solitary silverback. as compared to other gorilla families, Sabyinyo has fewer members although it’s similarly impressive.
this group derived its name from the Sabyinyo volcano and it actually means an “old man’s teeth”. The Sabyinyo is among the groups found nearest to the border of the park with 8 individuals that include one Silverback (which is that the biggest within the entire park); three Adult females; a youthful female; two Juveniles also as a Baby gorilla.
Amahoro Gorilla Group
Amahoro which suggests “peaceful group”, is that the calmest gorilla groups. this group has seventeen individuals: A Silverback; two Black-backs; five Adult females; 2 Sub-adult males; 2 Juveniles also as 5 Babies. Nonetheless, the peace comes at an honest price. Ubumwe, the silverback of this group is peaceful, very easy going also as serene, he has sadly lost some group members to the Umubano group led by Charles.
To see the Amahoro you ought to maneuver over the somewhat steep climb but the climb is worthwhile once you finally find this amazing group.
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 therefore the Sabyinyo group joined to make a smaller group at the time. Fortunately, another gorilla also joined this group and today the Hirwa group has nine individuals: one Silverback; three Adult females; two Sub adult females also as 3 Babies.
Although it’s the most recent gorilla group, Hirwa shows strength and well safeguards its members
Umubano Group
This means “neighborliness”, the Umubano family comprises of 11 individuals: a Silverback; a Sub-adult male; three Adult females also as six Babies. Umubano were initially members of the Amahoro group however separated following Ubumwe the then-dominant silverback being overpowered by Charles who is that the current leader of Umubano.
As Charles grew into an Adult silverback even as Ubumwe, he couldn’t stand taking orders around so he decided to fight and eventually challenged Ubumwe. this fight went on for a few weeks and nearly months. Eventually, Charles was ready to take a few of females from Ubumwe hence forming a group; the Umubano. From that point, he commands tons of respect and appreciated by Ubumwe.
On a variety of occasions interactions between these two silverbacks are witnessed, however, no fights are witnessed since that big fight. gorilla tracking 13 Group (the Agasha Group)
during its first habituated the group had 13 members. Today the group has nearly 25 members: a Silverback; twelve Adult females; two Sub adult females; three Juvenile also 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 eventually challenged him to a brutal fight removing his entire group.
Rwanda Gorilla Families – Rwanda Safaris
This greatly shocked Nyakarima and was an unprecedented event in witnessed gorilla history. Then Agashya shifted up the volcano to safeguard his group and make sure 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 additionally known, at any first sign of danger, to require his entire group to the height of the volcano. One time, while some tourists had gone to watch the Group 13 this identical scenario occurred. Agashya imagined that there was an opponent silverback who was close to fighting him. In reaction, he led his group to the volcano. Whenever we closed to the group they might go further away until we couldn’t go any longer. so, this is often another challenging group to ascertain.
Kwitonda Family
This group has 18 members and it’s 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 distant which makes it challenging to trek. This alongside Susa B is a number of the foremost challenging groups to seek out.
Bwenge Family
This family has 11 members with a Silverback. it’s majorly seen within the Slopes of Karisoke Volcano. Bwenge is that 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; including the death of six infants. Today this group is becoming strong with two successful births within the past couple of years also as a robust silverback leader. This trek to go to the group is challenging and includes an ascent of nearly 3 hours. the paths sometimes are muddy and pretty steep. It seems this is often the group which featured within the legendary movie ‘Gorillas in the Mist’.
Ugenda Family
This Group lives in Rwanda’s Karisimbi area. it comprises of 11 gorillas including 2 silverbacks. It acquired this mane which suggests “being on the move” since the family was constantly moving from one place to a different. Because it’s constant moving, tracking it’s normally challenging and involves prolonged movement to seek out them.