Nkuringo Gorilla family: is located in the Nkuringo area in the Southern part of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This is the only gorilla group in this part of the park, this is the most challenging gorilla group to track in the park because sometimes it is difficult if traveling by road to track this particular group, it’ll involve crossing from Buhuma park headquarters through Ruhija (4×4 has to be fully engaged), its road networks are hidden from the beginning to the end of the trekking experience.
Bwindi Impenetrable is boastful and one of the best selling Mountain gorilla parks in Africa and the world at large. The park is famous for its diversity with a wide range of antelopes (Duikers), both forest and grassland birds, primates and elephant.
The Bwindi Impenetrable forests are composed of the Afromontane vegetation, bamboo zone and a panaromic vista of Lake BUnyonyi and Mafuga forests. Not to forget, Bwindi Impenetrable has for so long been a habitat for Mountain gorillas living in their natural environment. 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.
About Nkuringo Gorilla Group
This is one of the oldest groups to be habituated in the southern areas of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forests. It derives its name from a local hill known as “Nkuringo” where the group was first seen by a group of tourists in 1997. The group was habituated in 1997 and it started with 17 members and later dropped to 12 members. After some time a certain change in the figures of the family members was noticed. Currently the group is led by Silverback Rafiki who was a blackback at the time of Silverback Nkuringo’s headship.
Initially, the group was led by Silverback Nkuringo (dominant male),Rafiki, Bahati, Kirungi all Silverbacks, Karibu, Posho and Christmas are blackbacks, Kwitonda and Mama Christmas adult females, Kwesima, Magara are male juveniles and Kuhirwa is a female juvenile, Rwamutwe ,Muhozi, Tabu, Furaha, and Kiiza are infants in the family. This is the only group with 4 silverbacks led by the second youngest silverback. 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.
Each gorilla family in the famous Gorilla parks for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is only visited by a maximum number of 72 tourists in a group of 8 people per day. Nkuringo Gorilla permits can be obtained online from Uganda Wildlife Authority headquarters in Kampala (Kamwokya) or from the park headquarters in the Nkuringo area. Gorilla tracking permits in Uganda go for $600USD for foreigners who’re not staying in East Africa(FNR – Foreign Non Residents), Nkuringo and Rushaga are the newly habituated gorilla regions hence giving a tourist a chance to spend around 3 – 4 hours with the gorillas.
