A Rwanda Gorilla Experience With The Sabinyo Gorilla Group

Mountain gorillas are one of the prestigious tourist attractions that Rwanda has. These mountain gorillas inhabit the Volcanoes National Park and are habituated for visitors interested in Rwanda gorilla trekking safaris/ Rwanda gorilla tours/ gorilla tours Rwanda. This park has a number of 10 habituated gorilla groups for visitors to see and one set aside for research from which the Kwita Izina baby gorilla family. With this given number of gorilla groups, it means that Rwanda has over 80 gorilla permits are available each day for tourists going watch gorillas on a single day given that each gorilla family. Each gorilla group is visited by a group of eight people and once spotted, they are restricted to an hour with them. Surprisingly, each gorilla group has a distinct and unique characteristic quite different from another. A single gorilla permit in Rwanda costs 1500 paid by all travellers including Rwanda nationals.
Have you visited the Sabinyo gorilla group in Rwanda?

Sabyinyo Gorilla Family

If you need to increase your bucket list, include a Rwanda safari tour/ Rwanda safari/ Rwanda tour/ Rwanda trip there because it is a surely a once in a lifetime experience that you can never forget. Among the 10 habituated mountain gorilla groups in volcano national park, find the great Sabinyo group that will be introduced to you during the briefing by the park warden.
Never the less, more of other habituated groups in volcano national park that visitors can trek included, Susa, Titus, Amahoro, Hirwa, Ugenda, Bwenge, Kwitonda, Umubano and lastly the karisimbi group and hiking time normally varies depending on which group one may need to trek and the one trackers may allocate first although visitor is allowed to spend exactly one hour while with gorillas.
Sabinyo group of gorillas comprises of 9 members that are frequently found in the gentle foothills of Mt. sambinyo and Mt gahinga. Sabinyo group is one of the closest groups normally found at the edges of the park, therefore, it can be easily accessed and allocated to gorilla trekkers by trackers. This gorilla family is popular for its giant silverback is known as Guhonda weighing about 220kg. It’s the nearest and easiest gorilla family and to track on a gorilla trekking Rwanda safari/ gorilla trekking safari in Rwanda. It inhabits the gentle slopes between Mt. Sabyinyo and Mt. Gahinga.
Sabinyo group of gorillas is an impressive family that everybody going for a Gorilla safari in Rwanda/ Rwanda safari would wish to visit. Interesting activities like hiking in the dense vegetation and forested slopes of Mt sabinyo and Gahinga that gives you an unforgettable experience about the gorilla. You can get a chance of seeing other primates in the forest like the golden monkeys.
It takes about 1-2hours to trek this particular group. It is really an exciting group to observe for a short time of just one hour.
Sabinyo group is led by the dominant silverback which is the oldest, biggest and stronger compared to the other two silverbacks and other gorillas in the group. It has got 3 female mountain gorillas with 2 youthful mountain gorillas and a young mountain gorilla. Don’t miss out on this amazing beautiful experience to observe each one of these gorillas.
While on your Uganda Gorilla tracking safari/Uganda gorilla trekking tour/ Uganda gorilla tour to Bwindi impenetrable forest, there a fewer or no chances of finding Sabinyo gorilla group in the forest.

Other Gorilla Families in Rwanda

The popular gorilla trekking safaris in Rwanda are done within the Volcanoes national park. Gorilla trekking is done for habituated (been tamed to behave normally in the presence of people) gorilla families. There is a total of 10 habituated gorilla families open to gorilla safari Rwanda tourists. A total of eight (8) tourists are allowed to trek a gorilla family per day, these gorilla families include;

Amahoro Gorilla Family

This is the most peaceful gorilla family in Rwanda with 18 members led by silverback Ubumwe. The name Amahoro originates from a Kinyarwanda word that means serenity. This family is indeed known for its peacefulness and friendliness living to the expectations of its name though it has led to the loss of some members to another group called Umubano. Trekking these gorillas is tasking since one has to hike Mt. Bisoke where the group established their home.

Umubano Gorilla Family

The Umubano gorilla family is a split from the Amahoro gorilla family. The family broke away because of constant battles between Charles and Ubumwe the two head silverbacks. At the time of the split, Charles broke away with 13 members forming the Umubano family which means living together.

Susa A Gorilla Family

Susa A gorilla family was previously part of the Susa family that had 42 members before the split and was the most popular group. Susa A gorilla family was formed in 2008 after the split and it remained with 33 members with two silverbacks. The gorilla family lives in the lower slopes of Mt. Karisimbi popular for its playful twins Byishimo and Impano. This was the group thoroughly studied by Dian Fossey during her time in Rwanda from 1967 to 1985.

Susa B (Karisimbi) gorilla family

This is the other part of the gorillas that split from the Susa family. The group has 16 members including 2 silverbacks. The group inhabits the upper slopes of Mt. Karisimbi at an altitude of 4,507m offering a trying moment for those on Rwanda gorilla trekking safari tours to trek them. This group is suitable for tourists who are interested in serious hiking.

Kwitonda Gorilla Family

Since Virunga national park is within the Virunga massif that is transboundary, Kwitonda gorilla family migrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s named after its dominant silverback called Kwitonda meaning the ‘Humble one’. This group has 23 members and lives in the lower slopes of Mt. Muhabura and its movement is unpredictable.

Ugenda Gorilla Family

Ugenda is a Kinyarwanda word that means on the move or mobile. Ugenda gorilla family has 11 members with two silverback gorillas. The group attained its name because its random movement behaviour which makes it one difficult group to track on a Rwanda gorilla safari.

Bwenge Gorilla Family

The Bwenge gorilla family has 11 members led by silverback Bwenge. The group was formed in 2007 when silverback Bwenge left his group and was later joined by females from other groups. Bwenge group occupies the slopes of Karisoke volcano between Karisimbi and Bisoke mountains. Bwenge is a Kinyarwanda word which meaning Wisdom and from its name, it’s no wonder that this gorilla group featured in the Movie titled Gorillas in the Mist.

Agashya (Group 13) Gorilla Family

This group is named after the initial family number that was 13 at the time of habituation. The group was initially led by a silverback called Nyakarima but was later overthrown by Agashya whose name means news which is now the leader and the family was named after him. The family as of now has 27 members.

Hirwa Gorilla Family.

This gorilla family has 16 members with its name originating from its formation process which was out of luck, it, therefore, means the lucky ones. This family was formed in 2006 by some members of the Sabyinyo group and others from 13 group (Agashya). Hirwa group inhabits the foothills of Mt. Sabyinyo to the side of Mt Gahinga.

Titus Gorilla Family

The family is named after the Silverback Titus which was born during the days of Dian Fossey’ research at Karisoke. Titus the young gorilla lost his family to poachers including his father, uncle, brother, mother and sister. Titus was later raised by another family and considered one of the successful gorillas in history. This group is meant for research but open to tourists when other groups are fully booked.