Gorilla Families in Volcanoes National Park Rwanda : A big hominid with a massive head, wide chest, and lengthy arms, the eastern gorilla is a giant hominid. It has a big nostrils and a flat nose. The baldness extends to the face, hands, feet, and breasts. The hair is mostly black, with a silvery “saddle” on the back of adult males. The hair on the gorilla’s back saddle grows white as it ages, much like the grey hair of aged people. The older men are known as silverbacks because of this. The mountain gorilla has a blue hue and a shorter, thicker fur than the Grauer’s gorilla.

Mountain gorillas are smaller and lighter than Grauer’s gorillas, although they are still larger and heavier than western lowland gorillas and Cross River gorillas. Males are much bigger than females. Male eastern gorillas generally weigh 140–205.5 kg (309–453 pounds) and stand 1.7 m (5.6 feet) tall when fully grown.

About Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.

The Volcanoes National Park, located in far north-western Rwanda, preserves the steep slopes of beautiful mountain ranges, which are home to endangered mountain gorillas and a diverse range of montane habitats, including evergreen bamboo forest, open grassland, and wetlands. Volcanoes National Park is named after the Virunga Massif’s series of extinct volcanoes: Sabinyo, Karisimbi (4,507m), Gahinga, Bisoke (with its green crater lake), and Muhabura.

Gorilla Families/Groups in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.

Volcanoes National Park has 10 habituated gorilla families which have been reserved for gorilla trekking while two other gorilla groups are strictly meant for research purposes only. Here are gorilla families that you can track during your visit to Volcanoes national park in Rwanda;

Umubano Gorilla Family

The Umubano gorilla family lives in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. Charles, the dominating Silverback, still leads Umubano, which was once part of the Amahoro herd. Amahoro A (headed by Ubumwe) and Umubano split apart peacefully. The two groups would meet, communicate, and feed together for one or two days following the separation and then continue their own ways. The Umubano group consists of 13 members: six silverbacks, two adult females, two blackbacks, two juveniles, and one new-born.

Agashya Gorilla Family

The Agashya gorilla family lives in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. This gorilla family was once known as Group 13 and was led by the powerful Silverback Murthi. Murthi died in 1992, leaving behind three young boys (Munane, Nyakarima, and Kwirinda) who fought to be the group’s leader. The three men remained together until Munane transformed into a Silverback and took command of the pack. Nyakarima quit the gang when Kwirinda died from injuries received in a confrontation with another group. Munane engaged with other tribes and obtained ladies in his effort to enlarge the group.

Unfortunately, he died of natural causes on May 18th, 2002, leaving behind a black back to head the gang. Because of his youth, the black back became friends with an adult female Safari who assisted him in leading the group. However, a Silverback (Agashya) from an unknown tribe arrived and took over the young black back’s leadership. At the Kwita Izina ceremony in 2010, the group was renamed Agashya. The Silverback Agashya is the current leader of the Agashya group, which consists of 25 members: 4 Silverbacks, 6 adult females, 4 blackbacks, 2 sub-adult females, 3 juveniles, and 6 babies.

Amahoro Gorilla Family

The dominating Silverback Gahinga leads the Amahoro group in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. Due to the conflict, the Amahoro group’s habituation began in March 1996 and ended in 1997. In the year 2000, the group became a tourist destination. The dominating Silverback Amahoro died on May 4th, 2002, at the age of 31. After Amahoro’s death, his two subordinate Silverbacks, Ubumwe and Charles, couldn’t agree on who would succeed him. As a result, the Amahoro divided into two groups, one commanded by Ubumwe and the other by Charles. Charles’s gang was renamed Amahoro B and then Umubano later on.

Amahoro now has a total of 23 members, including two silverbacks, eight adult females, one sub-adult female, three blackbacks, three juveniles, and six infants. A split is also being observed in the Amahoro group. In the past, one Silverback has always gone missing for days with a group of approximately seven individuals on many occasions, only to return to the group afterwards.

Igisha Gorilla Family

The dominating Silverback Igisha leads the Igisha group in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. On November 30th, 2014, Igisha broke away from the original Susa. Igisha created a new gorilla group with 23 other people and was eventually named Igisha after him. Five Silverbacks, nine adult females, one black back, three sub-adult females, two sub-adult males, three juveniles, and eight babies make up the Igisha group.

Kwitonda Gorilla Family

The Kwitonda gorilla family is led by Akarevuro and is situated in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. Kwitonda was founded in 1995 in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park, but moved to Rwanda in 2003 to escape persecution from rival organizations. Before joining the Rugabo group in the DRC, Kwitonda Silverback is considered to have been a lone male. Following Rugabo Silverback’s death, Kwitonda gathered some members of the organization to create his own. Following that, he relocated to Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, where he created the mountain’s home range between Mount Sabyinyo and Mount Gahinga.

Unfortunately, Kwitonda died of old age in 2012, leaving Akarevuro and Kigoma, both subordinate Silverbacks, to battle for the group’s leadership. Akarevuro managed to gain the respect of the other members of the group and assumed complete command. The Kwitonda gorilla family consists of 35 individuals: four silverbacks, eleven adult females, four blackbacks, three sub-adult males, two juveniles, and eleven babies. The Kwitonda gorilla family in Volcanoes  national park in Rwanda is without a doubt the largest of all gorilla groups, having the highest number of gorilla newly borns!

Karisimbi Gorilla Family

Nyagakangaga leads the Karisimbi gorilla group in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. After the main Susa group broke on June 28th, 2009, this gorilla group was created. On this day, Nyagakangaga, one of numerous subordinate Silverbacks, gathered 13 people and formed his own gang, which was known as Susa B at the time. In 2010, during the baby gorilla naming ritual – Kwita Izina – it was given the name Karisimbi. Because it ranges from within and around Karisimbi Mountain in Volcanoes National Park, the group was given the name Karisimbi. Unfortunately/fortunately, on April 10th, 2012, a faction of Karisimbi split off to establish Isimbi, a new gorilla family.

Since October 2016, the Karisimbi gorilla family has been reduced to an undetermined number of members. However, the total number of members in the group was 11 before it crossed the Congo border on October 7th 2016, comprising 4 Silverbacks, 1 adult female, 1 black back, 1 sub-adult male, 1 sub-adult female, 1 juvenile and 2 infants.

Isimbi Gorilla Family

The dominating Silverback-Muturengere leads the Isimbi group in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. The Isimbi group was formed as a result of the Karisimbi group’s split on April 10, 2012. Getty, a Silverback, assumed command of the new squad of seven people. Getty died of an abscess on the air sac and pneumonia on December 22nd, 2013. Following his death, Muturengere, an adolescent black back, seized command of the pack with the aid of Poppy, an adult female. Other gangs attempted to kidnap several of Muturengere’s group members. Since then, the group has expanded from seven to seventeen members, including one Silverback, six adult females, five adolescents, and five babies.

Muhoza Gorilla Family

The Muhoza gorilla family lives in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. On December 3rd, 2016, Muhoza, the dominating Silverback, established his gorilla family of seven individuals. Muhoza has taken two adult females from Hirwa’s group, bringing the total number of Muhoza’s members to 14: 1 Silverback, 8 adult females, and 5 babies.

Susa Gorilla Family

The dominating Silverback Kurira leads the Kurira group in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. It’s also known as the “Original Susa.” Susa is a well-known and well-established group in Volcanoes National Park, which began with seven members in 1974. It was the largest ever recorded ensemble, with 41 members, before disbanding in 2009. Susa A was broken into two groups (Karisimbi and Igisha or Susa B). Karisimbi then divided into another Isimbi group faction. The original Susa gorilla group continued with 16 members after the breakup. Susa (Kurira) now has a total of 23 members, including four silverbacks, six adult females, three blackbacks, three sub-adult males, three adolescents, and four babies.

Susa A is renowned for having the first set of surviving mountain gorilla twins, born in 2004 (Impano and Byishimo) and subsequently in 2011 (Impano and Byishimo) (Impeta and Umudende, although Impeta passed on in 2015). This gorilla family was also a victim of poaching in May 2002, when two adult females were murdered while attempting to protect two infants from poachers attempting to take and sell them on the black market.

Sabyinyo Gorilla Family

The Sabyinyo gorilla family is led by the dominant Silverback called Gihishamwotsi. This gorilla group is located in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. The group was given the moniker Amavubi (wasps) during its habituation because of their aggressive nature, which gave the habituation field teams a hard time. The group’s name was eventually changed to Sabyinyo, after the peak where they were originally spotted. Guhonda, a lone Silverback, took advantage of the death of Group 13’s Silverback Murthi and kidnapped three females from Group 13 (Gukunda, Kampanga, and Ijisho) as well as a number of others from Group 11. These are the members with whom Guhonda formed his own gorilla group. Three Silverbacks, six adult females, one sub adult, four adolescents, and four babies make up the Sabyinyo group which is also one of the  Gorilla Families in Volcanoes National Park Rwanda.