Oruzongo gorilla family can be found in the eastern Ruhija region of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in southwestern Uganda. Bwindi impenetrable forest is one of the biggest rainforests in Africa inhabiting the highest number of the mountain gorillas.
The Oruzongo Gorilla family was first opened up to tourism in 2011 and started receiving tourists within that year. This group is one of the highly tracked gorilla family groups in Bwindi and used to be the largest with more than 22 members. These include 2 Silverbacks one of them being ‘Tibirikwata’ – the leader of the family.
Other leaders in the group include ‘Kaganga’ (the giant one), ‘Bwoba’ (coward), and ‘Busungu’ (short tempted).
The females in the group include Ntamurungi, who gave birth in June 2011 and Musi who also gave birth in October 2011. The increase in the number of members in the group is due to high birth ratio among the group.
More details about Oruzongo gorilla family and gorilla trekking in Bwindi
Much surprise and lot of joy was brought in, in 2012 when ‘Kabobe’, one of the female gorillas in the group gave birth to twins. This made remarkable news which greatly attracted more visitors to the group.
The infants are very energetic and playful which gives great pleasant joy and much smiles to all visitors’ faces upon encountering them in the forest while on their gorilla tracking safari to Bwindi.
Other members in this group of the gorilla family include, Kashundwe, Nyakiina, Otaka, Karimi (tongue), Kiromba, Katooto (the kid), Kanywani (the friendly), and Buchura (the youngest) among others.
For ease of access to this group, one has to book accommodation in Ruhija sector in order to easily access the headquarters. This is important for a prompt early morning briefing before embarking on your gorilla trekking tour. Some visitors opt to sleep in Buhoma sector and then wake up early for a 2 hours morning drive to the Ruhija side.