Nkuringo gorillas, gorilla families in Nkuringo

The Nkuringo sector in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is one of the four sectors where gorilla trekking is carried out. It is located in the southern part of Bwindi and is famous for the most dominant silverbacks in the park, known as Rafiki, who died due to poaching in 2020 during the lockdown COVID period. The Nkuringo sector was the second to be established in 2004 in Bwindi, after the Buhoma sector, which is found in the northern part of the national park. The best time to visit Nkuringo is during the dry season, from June to September and December to January, when the trek routes are easily accessible. One needs to purchase a gorilla permit to be able to participate in gorilla trekking in Nkuringo, and upon purchase of a gorilla permit, one will be assigned a sector, including Nkuringo. In this article, we are going to learn more about the Nkuringo sector and the gorilla families that are open for habituation.

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The gorilla groups of the Nkuringo sector

Nkuringo sector has three habituated gorilla families that are available for trekking and each of these groups can receive a maximum of 8 trekkers per day. There is another gorilla group in Nkuringo that is still undergoing gorilla habituation and UWA will open the group exclusively for the habituation experience.

Nkuringo Gorilla Family:

The Nkuringo Gorilla Family was opened in April 2004 to the public by the Uganda Wildlife Authority after four hours of habituation. The Nkuringo gorilla family was the first family to be introduced in the southern sector and it has 20 gorilla family members including three silverbacks which are under the dominant Nkuringo silverback. Nkuringo means round Hill and the gorilla group is famous for foraging through the national park this led to the conservation bodies displaced human settlers who were living in the villages along the border of the park. Because the group was so familiar with the villagers, UWA decided to habituate the group.

The silverback Nkuringo led the Nkuringo until he died in 2008 at the age of 45 and left the group under the leadership of the dominant silverback Safari. Safari led the Nkuringo group until he got into a deadly encounter with the Bushaho group which lived nearby. To this day, the ranger guides do not know the whereabouts of the silverback Safari and after his disappearance, Rafiki became the leader of the Nkuringo group.

The name Rafiki means ‘friend’ in Swahili led the Nkuringo gorilla family to be family friendly and he allowed his brothers to be around and occasionally visit even though they left the family to form their videos. For all tourists visiting the Nkuringo group, it has become a favorite among gorilla trekkers and Rafiki has become a well-known gorilla figure among the trekkers. Rafiki was killed during a poaching incident that took place in 2020 during the COVID lockdown where the rangers found Rafiki with a deep wound on his abdomen believed to have been caused by a spear.

After the death of Rafiki, the blackback Rwamutwe took over the leadership of the Nkuringo gorilla family. A blackback is a teenage gorilla that has not yet grown the silver hair on its back. Rwamutwe is a stubborn gorilla and since some of the gorillas did not trust the leadership of Rwamutwe, they left the group and joined the neighboring groups. As of 2021, the Nkuringo gorilla family had 12 family members including 4 blackbacks, 4 infants and 4 adult females including Kwitonda, Furaha Nderema and Kuhiirwa.

Getting to the Nkuringo sector is easy and you can drive from the UWA offices for about 20 minutes until you get to the Nteko trailhead, take a walk through the Valley towards the Kashasha River for an hour where you find the Nkuringo group. The Nkuringo group is known to be one of the most challenging but preferred groups among tourists.

Christmas Gorilla family:

The Christmas Gorilla Family was opened in July 2021 and it was formed from a fusion of the Nkuringo group that didn’t need to undergo habituation during that time because the members of the Christmas gorilla family were already habituated. The gorilla family was named after the dominant silverback Christmas who was born on Christmas day in the Nkuringo group. The Christmas gorilla family as of 2021 has 8 members including the dominant silverback Christmas, 1 sub-adult female, 2 adult females, 2 infants and 2 juveniles. Recently, there is a wild female gorilla joined the Christmas group with her son who can usually be seen hiding in the bushes especially when there are tourists. Kiza also joined the group from Nkuringo after the death of Rafiki and she gave birth to a baby in 2022.

Bushaho Gorilla Family:

The bushaho gorilla family is the second habituated gorilla family to be introduced in the Nkuringo Sector in Southern Bwindi. The Bushaho group is under the leadership of Bahati and was opened to the public in 2021. After the death of the dominant silverback in the Nkuringo gorilla group and disappearances, researchers searched for the whereabouts of the gorillas around 2012 and this is when it was discovered that one of the silverbacks Bahati who had previously disappeared led a different group and some of the members in the group were former members of Nkuringo group whereas others were non-habituated members.

Researchers started a follow-up of the group but later started closely monitoring the behaviors of the parallel group. The group was later habituated and named Bushaho which loosely translates to ‘there’s nothing’ and the name inspiration came from the area where the gorilla searches for food. The Bushaho gorilla family as of 2021 had 12 gorilla families which include 2 infants, 1 sub-adult female, I dominant silverback known as Bahati, 2 juveniles, 5 female adults and 1 blackback known as Kaheru.

The Bushaho gorilla family is one of the entertaining families in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Bahati is known to always show off his physical power as a dominant silverback. When there are tourists, Bahati makes aggressive charges while pounding on his chest, throws things around, stands upright and barks out hoots and frightening roars. These are just displays and Bahati is a calm silverback unless when it is threatened.

The Posho gorilla family:

The posho gorilla family was introduced in July 2021 and has 14 gorilla family members. The gorilla group is under the leadership of the Silverback Magara and soon will be available for the habituation experience in the Nkuringo sector. At the moment, habituation experience is only carried out in the Rushaga sector and introducing the Posho family to habituation in Nkuringo will be a much-anticipated move from tourists interested in habituation experience.

The gorilla trekking experience in Nkuringo

Gorilla trekking in Nkuringo starts with a briefing for all the participants and this is done at the headquarters and carried out by the ranger guides. The briefing is done on the morning of the trek and during the briefing, there is effective communication from the guides about what to expect during the trek, you will be assigned a gorilla family and divided into groups of 8. After the briefing, you will then head out to the start of the trailhead and start searching for the gorilla family you have been assigned. The trek can take between an hour and 6 hours and this depends on the physical fitness of the trekkers and the location of the gorilla family. After finding the gorilla family, you get to spend an hour with the primates taking photos and learning more about their behaviors. After spending an hour with the gorillas, you will then trek back to the headquarters where you will be awarded a certificate for participating in the exercise.

There are three trekking groups each with 8 tourists that trek in Nkuringo per day and although Mountain gorillas usually maintain a maximum of 16 square kilometers per home range, their movements are always unpredictable and keep on moving up and down and might take more than an hour to locate them. The trekkers start the trek at around 8:00 am and the distance taken and time is determined by the location of the gorillas.

Gorilla trekking rules and regulations in Nkuringo

Trekking gorillas comes with rules and regulations that tourists have to follow. These rules help in protecting the Mountain gorillas and the trekkers and they include the following.

• The age for trekking gorillas in Nkuringo is 12 years and above
• Only groups of 8 are allowed to trek a gorilla family per day in Nkuringo
• Sick tourists will not be allowed to trek gorillas and they should volunteer to trek to protect the Mountain gorillas
• There are no toilets in Nkuringo and all human waste is to be buried in a hole of 30cm and covered well
• Always keep a distance of 7 meters from the Mountain gorillas after locating them
• No one is allowed to touch and feed the Mountain gorillas
• Eating when with the gorillas is prohibited
• Sanitize and wash your hands before the start of the trek
• Cover your mouth and nose when you want to cough or sneeze and turn away from the Mountain gorillas

What to carry for your gorilla safari to Nkuringo

Items that need to be brought for your gorilla trek safari include neutral-colored long-sleeved shirts and trousers (most preferably light-weight and not jeans), waterproof rain jacket, sweater, ponchos and scarves to keep warm, gardening gloves, socks, knee-length hike boots, waterproof backpack, snacks, refillable water bottle, toiletries, first aid kit, a camera and binoculars among others.

Other activities that are carried out in the Nkuringo sector

After gorilla trekking in the Nkuringo sector, there are other activities that you can carry out within the sector and you will need an experienced guide to help you plan for all the activities that need to be carried out these include bird watching in the sector which is home to more than 100 bird species. You will need your binoculars to be able to participate in bird watching and this activity is best carried out during the rainy season and early in the morning. You can also embark on a guided nature walk through the lush green forest in Nkuringo which is filled with a variety of tree species, butterfly species, frogs and many forest animal species.

The best routes to use when bird watching in Nkuringo are the Kashasha River trail and the Ivy River trail. These are the same routes that are used when taking guided nature walks the Kashasha trail is 17 kilometers and takes about 6 to 7 hours and starts at the Nkuringo trailhead taking you through the rugged landscape with several viewpoints leading you to the river where you can have an hour-long walk. The Ivy trail takes 4 hours and there are three ways you can explore the Ivy trail that is by walking about 12 kilometres from Nkuringo to the Nteko Village and then taking a 5-kilometre route to Ivy River. The second one starts from the Nteko outpost where you hike to the river and then back and the third one starts from Nteko, towards the valley across the Jungle which leads to Buhoma. Other trails that are used include the Buniga forest trail, Suma waterfall trail and the birding trail.

Where to stay in Nkuringo Sector

Nkuringo sector in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has few accommodation facilities and these are classified into two luxury accommodation facilities, one mid-range and budget-friendly accommodation facilities although these are about 20 kilometres away from Nkuringo. The facilities we recommend to use when trekking in Nkuringo include the Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge, Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge, Gorilla Heights Lodge, Chameleon Hill Lodge, Mutanda Lake Resort, and Wagtail Eco Safari Lodge among others.

How to get to Nkuringo

Nkuringo is found in southern Bwindi a few kilometers from the border of Uganda and DRC along the Albertine Rift and you can get to the sector either by road or air. Road is the main way tourists can get to Nkuringo and you can drive from Entebbe via Kabale via Muko and then to Nkuringo. It will take you about 10 hours to get to the sector. You can also drive from Entebbe to Kisoro to Mutanda and then finally to Nkuringo. You can drive from Rwanda via the Gatuna border, to Kabale-Kisoro Road and then turn off at Muko and join the dirt road to the Nkuringo sector. There is also an option of driving from Queen Elizabeth National Park to Kihihi and finally to Nkuringo.

Some tourists prefer to fly and this is faster. Fly from Entebbe to Kisoro Airport and then drive for almost an hour to the sector.

Remember to pack light and get in touch with us Encounter Africa Safaris for more information.