Gorilla Trekking Bwindi National Park- Rushegura Family- Buhoma- Trek 4 of 6

On Feb 7th I completed my 4th gorilla trek of 6 for this trip in Bwindi National Park. It would be my 16th trek overall and 14th with Mountain Gorillas. What I love about trekking with gorillas is that every trek is completely different. You never know what to expect or where you will find the gorillas. This was the easiest of the 6 treks I completed. We walked maybe 20 minutes down an easy path in the Buhoma sector and the Rushegura family was just off the path. Apparently, the day after and day before they were up the mountain so today we were lucky.

We were catching the family as they were just waking up. We met the silverback Kabukojo he was climbing down the tree to start his day. Shortly after his family followed him down.

The Rushegura gorilla family was brought together in 2002, after one of the silverbacks from the Habinyanja group decided to break away. They started with 12 individuals including 5 females. Rushegura group is also known for foraging closer to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park’s headquarters (Buhoma) and for visiting local community gardens around its home range areas. Following several births, the group grew from 12 to now 19 individuals including 2 Silverback, 3 Blackbacks, 6 Adult females, 1 Sub-adult, 3 Juveniles and 4 Infant.

The family was extremely entertaining this morning. Having just woke up the little ones all had plenty of energy climbing up and down little trees and vines trying to knock each other out of the tree. The whole family traveled together through a flat area of the forest which was nice as a photographer. The only problem is there was so much going on I didn’t know where to point my camera or whether to photograph or take videos. The juveniles were wrestling while the infants were climbing trees. I was able to capture a few sweet moments with the infants and their mothers. Of the 6 treks I did on this trip this was by far my favorite.

If you would like to join us on one of our amazing gorilla trekking adventures you can find out more at RW Safaris .