Silverbacks in Bwindi National Park – Why not spend time with the giant male gorillas?
Silverbacks in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are one of the large and powerful male gorillas that can be seen by travelers during gorilla trekking safaris. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located in southwestern Uganda at the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This park is the largest protected area of mountain gorillas in Uganda and it is part of the Virunga Conservation Area. The area comprises an extension or chain of mountains and rainforests. It is only in this area that we can find mountain gorillas in the whole world. Several mountain gorilla families can be seen in this region. Each gorilla family is headed by an alpha male known as a “silverback”.
The tracked gorillas are usually first habituated for them to get used to the human presence. The Gorilla habituation process takes about 2 years for a particular gorilla family to get used to the human presence. Once habituation is done, the gorilla family is declared open for tracking. To see the silverbacks in this park, travelers are supposed to visit any of the sectors of the park. These park sectors include Nkuringo, Buhoma, Ruhija, and Rushaga. All these sectors have several silverbacks that travelers can encounter on their safaris.
Nshongi Silverback
Nshongi is the silverback that heads the Nshongi gorilla family which is made up of 10 members. This group is within the Rushaga sector of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This silverback is named after the river Nshongi within the Rushaga sector where he was first spotted. Nshongi originated from a Lukiga word which means “Omushongi gwo’bwoki” since the deeper color of the river looked like honey.
Rafiki Silverback
He is the leader of the Nkuringo family and the major silverback in the family. This family is the only one in the Nkuringo sector of the park and it was habituated in 2004. This family originates its name from the rolling hills of the area called Nkuringo.
Mwirima Silverback
Mwirima is spotted in the Buhoma sector in the Rushegura gorilla family where the family originated from the Habyinyanja family in 2002. At the age of 25 years, Mwirima still defends his family from the invaders in the gorilla groups in the sector.
Mugurisi Silverback
Mugurisi can also be spotted in the Buhoma sector of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the Habinyanja family. The name Mugurisi is a local Rukiga word that means “old man “and he is a dominant leader in the family.
Ruhondeza Silverback
Ruhondeza is also another dominant silverback of the Mubare family that is within the Buhoma sector of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. He passed on due to old age and currently, the group is led by Kanyonyi.
Ndahura Silverback
Nadahura is another dominant silverback in the Ruhija sector who succeeded Karumazi who was the leader of the Bitukura family. Karumazi was succeeded due to old age. Ndahura leads the family with happiness.
Tebirikwata Silverback
This silverback leads a family of 25 members of the Oruzongo gorilla family. This family is within the Ruhija sector and this family was first tracked by travelers in 2011.
Mishaya Silverback
Mishaya leads the Mishaya gorilla group which is within the Rushaga sector. This gorilla group was part of the Nshongi family which broke away with Silverback Mishaya as the leader. Mishaya is a fierce silverback that attacks several families that are habituated and unhabituated to get out of females.
Which activities can I do to see silverbacks in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park?
While on a safari to see the silverbacks in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, travelers are supposed to encounter several activities like;
Gorilla trekking experience
Gorilla trekking is one of the key activities that travelers on their safaris to see several silverbacks in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park can engage in. The activity starts early morning about 0700 hours with the briefing at the park headquarters. The briefing highlights the dos and don’ts about the gorilla trekking and then travelers go ahead with the activity which takes about 2 to 7 hours of the day. Upon meeting the gorillas, travelers have 1 hour to view the gorillas maintaining a social distance of 7 meters.
Gorilla habituation Experience
This is the process that gorillas are trained to get used to the human presence and it takes about 2 years. Travelers can engage in this activity to see the silverbacks in the park. Gorilla habituation is done in the Rushaga sector of the park and it lasts about 5 hours. In this activity, travelers have more time with the gorillas. For travelers to engage in these activities are supposed to have acquired a gorilla permit. This gorilla permit is a legal permit that allows travelers to engage in any activity to see the silverbacks in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
How much is a permit to see silverbacks in Bwindi Park – Uganda?
While on a Uganda safari to see the silverbacks, travelers are supposed to acquire a gorilla permit. In the park, there are over 160 gorilla trekking permits and over 12 habituation gorilla permits. The price of the gorilla trekking permit costs about 800 USD for foreign nonresidents, 700 USD for foreign residents,500 USD for the rest of the rest of Africa, and 300,000 UGX for East African residents. Whereas, the gorilla habituation permit costs about 1500 USD for foreign nonresidents, 1000 USD for foreign residents and the rest of Africa, and 750,000 UGX for East African residents.
Travelers are supposed to book the gorilla permits to ensure availability during a safari since they are limited in number each day. They are supposed to use reliable tour operators to book the permits since the Uganda Wildlife Authority sells the permits to only reliable tour operators.
Rules and regulations for seeing silverbacks in Bwindi Park
Travelers planning a gorilla trekking safari, there are several rules and regulations that travelers on their Uganda safaris looking for the silverbacks in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are supposed to follow and they include;
- No feeding of the mountain gorillas during the safari as you come across them during the tracking.
- Gorilla trekking starts early in the morning at 0700 hours of the day.
- Travelers are supposed to acquire the gorilla trekking permit before tracking the gorillas.
- Travelers are supposed to sanitize before tracking the gorillas.
- Travelers are supposed to keep a distance of 7 meters while viewing the gorillas.
- A group of 8 people are supposed to visit one gorilla family
