Rushaga Gorilla Sector – the only place in Uganda where to spend more time with gorillas
Rushaga Gorilla trekking Sector is one of the four gorilla trekking sector/trailheads making up Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and where daily gorilla trekking safari excursions start from.
Rushaga Sector is the only place in Uganda as well as the world where visitors can spend more than one hour with mountain gorillas on what is termed as Gorilla Habituation Experience, the sector is also for hosting the highest concentration of gorillas.
Rushaga Sector is found in the Southern Sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the sector sits on a hill looking across the vast, rugged rift valley landscapes boasting views of the Virunga Mountains and forested canopy.
Gorilla Groups in Rushaga Sector
Rushaga Sector has eight (8) gorilla groups available for gorilla trekking and two groups reserved for research and habituation experiences, the sector has more fully habituated gorilla groups than any other sector in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Nshongi Gorilla Family
Nshongi gorilla group is one of the full habituated gorilla groups in Rushaga Sector with 8 (eight) members under the leadership of dominant silverback Bweza.
Initially, Nshongi gorilla group had 34 members with several males, however over time intra-male rivalry caused notable dispersals of individual males as well as fissions. In July 2010, the group split form the Mishaya Family and Bweza Group in August 2012.
Currently, Nshongi gorilla family is composed of 8 members including 1 Silverback,
1 Blackback, 3 Adult females, 1 Sub-adults and 2 Infants.
The name of the group “Nshongi” is adopted from the Nshongi River found in the area where the group forages. Nshongi gorilla family was official open for gorilla trekking in 2009
Mishaya Gorilla Family
Mishaya Gorilla Family is a relatively new gorilla family in Rushaga sector open gorilla trekking, the group was initially formed in July 2010 following the split of Nshongi gorilla group and its formation was led by Silverback Mishaya.
On 3rd February 2014, Mishaya – the sole dominant silverback of the group died from an obstruction of the intestinal gut resulting in an unmonitored dispersal of the remnant group members as they had no other adult male to guide and protect them through their jungle foraging excursions.
Some of the members of the group sought solace with the Bweza gorilla group while researchers could not immediately trace the whereabouts of other members. In May 2018, the remnants of the Mishaya group were re-discovered under the leadership of Silverback “Tinfayo” a former member of Nshongi group in 2012 with one Adult female (Shida) and her infant (Rotary).
The re-habituation of the newly rediscovered Mishaya group members became inevitable to keep monitoring the already habituated members.
Mishaya gorilla group is the latest addition to the Rushaga Sector gorilla groups available for daily gorilla trekking excursions.
Currently, Mishaya gorilla group is under the leadership of the dominant Silverback “Tinafayo,” known for his carefree demeanor and brutal encounters with other silverbacks in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The name Tinfayo means (unconcerned or calm, cool, collected, composed, indifferent, laid-back, or casual).
Mishaya Gorilla Group is composed of 10 members including 1 Silverback
1 Blackback, 4 Adult females, 1 Sub-adult female and 3 infants
Busingye Gorilla Family
Busingye Gorilla Family composed of 12 members with 1 Silverback, 1 Black back, 5 Adult females, 3 Juveniles, 2 infants under the leadership of Silverback Busingye, the founder and the dominant.
The name “Busingye” is a local dialect word that means “peaceful”, or conflict-free, calm, restful, composed, or noiseless but his demeanor is quite the opposite. Silverback Busingye has been observed to lead brutal attacks on other gorilla families to expand his family size.
In 2008, almost all members of Busingye gorilla family initially habituated in the Kahungye gorilla group before the fission in 2008. In March 2012, Silverback Busingye led a splinter from Kahungye to form the Busigye group.
Busingye group is one of the most entertaining gorilla groups in the Rushaga Sector with its five young ones who are exceptionally playful and their father lets them play around him where he can watch closely.
Bweza Gorilla Family
Bweza gorilla group is a famous gorilla group in Rushaga Sector known for foraging on community land adjacent to the park where vegetation is more disturbed than deep inside the canopy.
Bweza gorilla group has 11 members include 3 Silverbacks, 4 Adult females, 1 Juvenile and 3 Infants under the leadership of dominant Silverback Kakono.
In 2013, some of the Nshongi gorilla family members trusted Kakono to lead them from Silverback Bweza’s leadership and fissioned to form their own family, Silverback Bweza leads the old Nshongi group which split to form the Bweza group while Silverback Kakono leads the new Bweza group.
Kahungye Gorilla Family
The Kahubgye Gorilla Family has a total of 13 members under the leadership of Silverback Ruziika, the habituation process of this group by UWA was started in 2008 with about 29 individuals include 3 adult males/silverbacks – Ruziika, Busingye and Rwiigi who constantly got involved in the frequent intra-male rivalry.
In March 2012, the mature Silverback Busingye start the fission that split the members to create the Busingye gorilla family, he left with 19 family members. No long after, silverback Rwiigi too split away with some females to create his own troop.
Bikingi Gorilla Family
Bikingi gorilla family has 10 members include 1 silverback, 1 black back, 4 adult females, 2 juveniles and 2 infants under the leadership of an unnamed silverback. Initially, the group was under the leadership of Silverback Bikingi who founded the group. He died on 9th June 2018 after a brutal encounter alone wild silverback around Rushaga Sector, before his death. There was constant attacks on the group made by the solitary male silverback violently seeking dominance. The last fight left the powerful fighter “silverback Bikingi” down for good.
After his death, many of the group members dispersed joining other groups for example the 7 individuals joined the Mucunguzi group.
Following an intensive search, a lone “unnamed” with 9 members royal to his leadership were found. UWA decided to maintain their original name Bikingi and closely monitor the gorilla family.
UWA launched the Bikingi gorilla family’s habituation process in early 202 as a follow-up exercise of the disintegrated Mishaya group. Also, they discovered that several members from the Mishaya group lived alongside other non – habituated members in the group.
Later, UWA declared the Bikingi group for the habituation process and to keep a close eye on the formerly habituated members.
Mucunguzi Gorilla Family
Mucunguzi gorilla family is a group of 12 members under the leadership of silverback Mucunguzi, his name comes from a local dialect meaning “redeemer”.
Silverback Mucunguzi left the Bweza Family at Maturity to roam the jungle on his own , after a few solitary years. He attacked the Bikingi gorilla family and snatched away enough females to start his own family.
Rwiigi Gorilla Family.
Rwiigi gorilla family is a newly formed troop following the split from the Kahungye gorilla family, this group gets its name from the dominant silverback “Rwiigi” which means “an entrance or door” in local dialect.
By the time of formation of this group, all its members were already full habituated in Kahungye gorilla group so the group did not go through another habituation process but its movements where closely monitored by UWA.
Rwigi Gorilla Family has 10 members with 1 Silverback, 5 Adult Females, 2 Juveniles and 2 Infants
Where to Stay in Rushaga Sector
Rushaga Sector has a variety of accommodation facilities ranging from luxury, midrange to budget. These accommodations include
- Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge
- Clouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge
- Mutanda Lake Resort
- Chameleon Hill Lodge
- Rushaga Gorilla Camp
- Nshongi Camp
- Gorilla Safari Lodge
- Wagtail Eco Safari Camp
- Bwindi Jungle Lodge
- Ichumbi Gorilla Lodge
How to Get to Rushaga Sector
Rushaga Sector is located in the Southern region of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park a few kilometers from the DRC border at the edge of the Albertine Rift. From Kisoro Town or Kisoro Airport it is about 34 kilometers and from Kabale Town it is about 83 kilometers.
By Road – Several routes are used to get to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, these routes include Entebbe- Kabale – Rushaga, Entebbe – Kisoro – Mutanda – Nkuringo and Kihihi – Rushaga via Ishasha Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
By Air – flying to Rushaga Sector is the quickest way to get there from Entebbe International Airport to Kisoro Airstrip and drive to the park on a dirt road. These flights are operated by AeroLink and Bar Aviation.
