Virunga National park is found in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a central African nation that has recently become stable after decades of civil wars which have faded away.
Virunga National Park is a 7800 square kilometer World Heritage Site that lies on the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the is the second oldest national park in the world, behind only Yellowstone, and the oldest in Africa. It is the most diverse national park on the African continent that boasts savannas, lava plains, swamps, erosion valleys, forests, active volcanoes and the ice fields of the Rwenzori Mountains. Among Virunga’s numerous species of wildlife, the park is home to approximately 200 of the world’s critically endangered mountain gorillas that live on the slopes of the Virunga volcano ranger which includes active Nyiragongo volcano and the largest lava lake in the world.
Habituated Gorilla Families in Virunga National Park
If Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is your dream gorilla destination then Virunga National Park should be a must for you to visit. About 8 gorilla families have been habituated for visitors to trek every day so as to strike their imaginations with these great apes while they are still in their natural habitat. Note that each of the gorilla families’ dynamics and composition in Virunga National Park keep changing from time to time.
Kabirizi family
Kabirizi family was once known as Ndungutse family and this derived its name from the silverback gorilla Ndungutse-the humble and giant gorilla leader at a time. This silverback was killed around 1997 after he was caught up in crossfire between the DRC army and rebel groups in the Bukima patrol post. Kabirizi is a name derived from the ICCN Director who passed on in traffic accidents in the late 1990s. This family is recently under the control of Kabirizi silverback. The silverback is however facing severe completion from the young silverback Masibo. The family comprises of about 19 individuals.
Munyanga family
This group can be trekked around the Bukima area of Virunga National Park. The habituation of this family began in 2008 and it derived its name from then silverback-Munyaga. The family is famous for an adult female Bilali that gave birth to twins after joining from Rugendo family. Unfortunately, the twins passed on at their infant stages. The leadership of the family was then transferred from Munyaga silverback to Mawazo silverback. Currently, Gasore is the recent leader of the family. The family is famous for a bold headed silverback Kadogo. This group consists of seven members.
Nyakamwe family
Nyakamwe family is one of the newly habituated gorilla families in the Virunga National Park. This group was habituated in the same period with Bageni the biggest families in the Virunga National Park. It features about 11 individuals. It derived its name from Nyakamwe silverback.
Bageni family
Bageni family features as the biggest gorilla group in the Virunga National Park. It comprises of 26 individuals and headed by Bageni silverback. However, there are struggles for leadership in the family and higher chances are that the family will break off into 2 or even 3. There are two other silverbacks (Kanamaharagi and Kitagenda) who are currently struggling for leadership.
Rugendo family
This features as one of the oldest and the most famous family in the Virunga National Park. It was habituated in 1989. This family was headed by the Rugendo silverback a father to Humba and recently headed by Bukima silverback. However, this family has undergone through various changes since its habituation. Around 1997, Rugendo family featured about 18 members with 2 (two) silverbacks-Rugendo and his son Humba. Humba fought his father in 1998 leading to creation of a new family with 10 members. Rugendo remained with only eight members and currently, it has only 9 members.
Mapuwa family
This family is situated in Jomba next to Bunagana-DR Congo Uganda border area. It was previously headed by Mapuwa silverback where the group derived its name. The silverback grabbed and safeguarded his group member by all means via violent struggles. He was a son to Rugendo the recent leader of the Rugendo family. He decided to leave his father’s family in 1998 and began his own group. By the time he left, he went with two adult females-Jicho and Mafaze. Due to endless fights, Mapuwa silverback has managed to grab more individuals from rest of the families. Pilipili is one of the strongest and very popular silverback in the Virunga National Park was stripped of compared to the rest of his of his member groups in 2002 and this left him as alone silverback. Besides grabbing member groups, there has been an increase in birth rates in the group with about 22 individuals that thrive within the family. Recently, Mvuyekure silverback features as a dominant silverback in the family.
Lulengo family
This family thrives within the Jomba area of the Virunga National Park just next to Bunagana-the Congo Uganda border area. Lulengo family was previously known as Musekura family. The name later turned to Lulengo a name of the dominant silverback and in commemoration of the Technical Director of Virunga National Park who was murdered by the land mine. Lulengo silverback was born and was member of Rugabo family, the first habituated mountain gorilla family the Mikeno area. At that time, Rugabo silverback was a leader of Rugabo family. Rugabo was the father to Lulengo silverback who was murdered by poachers during the Great Lakes Refugees Crisis. After passing away Lulengo group remained in the hands of the black back Lulengo the current silverback and leader of the family. The group features about 9 individuals.