Gorilla Groups in Nkuringo Sector of Bwindi
Gorilla Groups in Nkuringo Sector of Bwindi: Nkuringo is the only habituated Gorilla group within the regions of Nkuringo sector in the southern part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This is the hardest group to trek because it is hidden in the terrains both at the beginning and the end of the trek. Nkuringo group was the first family to be habituated in the Southern sector of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in 1997. The group started with 17 members but as time went by; its members were moving to other groups hence the current figure of 12 members.
Each gorilla family in the famous Gorilla parks for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Volcanoes only visited by a maximum number of 72 tourists in a group of 8 people per day. Nkuringo Gorilla permits can be obtained from Uganda Wildlife Authority headquarters in Kampala (Kamwokya).
Gorilla tracking permits in Uganda go $600USD per person, Nkuringo and Rushaga are the newly habituated gorilla regions hence giving a tourist a chance to spend around 3 – 4 hours with the gorillas. Nkuringo Group forms the Buffer zone between the local communities and the park boundaries, in 2004, humans were displaced to create more space and reduce on the human-wildlife conflicts because the Nkuringo family is famous for its foraging outside the park boundaries. The displacement was attributed to the outbreak of Scabies in Nkuringo gorilla in 2000.
Nkuringo Gorilla Group
The Nkuringo group is headed by a Silverback called Rakifi and it comprises of 12 family members. Nkuringo is a local name which means ‘hills’ where the group was first sighted and was habituated in 2004 after a 2 years habituation process. Nkuringo group is led by Rafiki with one other Silverback, 1 blackback, 2 adult females, 2 sub-adults, three juveniles and two infants.
In 2013, a 94 year old woman completed her dream of trekking Mountain gorillas in the wild in their Natural environment although she was carried by porters into the forest.
Nkuringo is strategically located in the park with a magnificent view to see changes all day long from early morning Sun rise with Mist, the thickets of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest gives you a clear value and meaningful adventure experience in the Nkuringo.