Mountain gorillas live in groups of 5-30 individuals dominated by an alpha male called the silverback that dictates all the group activities that include; foraging time, resting time, sleeping time and also has the right to mate with all the group females.
When baby mountain gorillas are born, they are vulnerable just like human babies and depend on their mothers for everything and breastfeed up to around 4 years when they get introduced to vegetation, they also sleep in the same nests as their mothers until a certain age.
Mountain gorilla diet is mainly composed of; fruits, bamboo shoots, leaves, stems, bark, roots and sometimes supplement their diet with ants, insects and termites. Gorillas have been observed to be intelligent through their use of tools for different purposes like picking ants in holes and so much more.
Kahungye gorilla family
Kahungye mountain gorilla family derives its name from Kahungye hills in Bwindi the area in which the family ranges from, at the time of habituation the group was composed of 27 individuals including 3 silverbacks and separation was very possible.
The group was habituated in the year 2011 but later split when silverback Busingye took away some members to start his own gorilla family. Kahungye gorilla family is now composed of 13 individuals led by silverback Gwigi meaning “door” in the local language. One on the silverbacks in the group died after a tragic accident in the forest where he fell from a tree as high as 30-40 meters cracking his brain on the ground.
Busingye mountain gorilla family the splinter of Kahungye gorilla family is now composed of 9 individuals dominated by Busingye well known for his ambitious and aggressive ways of picking fights with other groups in order to grab members to add to his own family.
Gorilla habituation
Gorilla habituation can be described as the process of Making Mountain gorillas get used to human presence; this takes a period of 2-3 years and involves researchers and rangers visiting the family on a daily basis until they can be trekked by tourists after passing a mocking exercise.
Gorilla habituation can be done at Rushagga sector of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park and involves spending 4 hours with mountain gorillas’ unlike gorilla trekking where you spend only one hour. A group of only 4 tourists can habituate a gorilla family in a day.
What to bring
Gorilla trekking doesn’t only involve physical fitness but also requires one to pack the right equipments to hike the tropical rainforests where gorillas stay in. When coming to trek mountain gorillas one should pack hiking boots, rain coats, jackets, warm clothes, garden gloves, plenty of drinking water, energy snacks, hats, sun screen and many other things you might need.
Best time to trek gorillas
Gorilla trekking can be done all year round but the best time to trek is in the dry season of June to September and December to February when the trekking trails are in good condition not muddy and slippery.
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