Volcanoes National Park in the northern region of Rwanda is under the Virunga Conservation Area. This conservation area is the only place on earth to spot wild mountain gorillas and includes other parks such as Virunga in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bwindi Impenetrable, and Mgahinga in Uganda. With the much more interesting flora and fauna in Volcanoes National Park including giant forest hogs, bush pigs, forest buffaloes, and the rare golden monkeys among others, mountain gorillas are the face and main highlight of the park.

As you may be well informed about the nature of wild mountain gorillas being social animals, they live in groups called gorilla families. These families can be huge accommodating as many as 20-30 mountain gorillas each. A family this size would require a strong protector to take care of it and defend it from intruders, and who does it better than a dominant silverback. These silverback gorillas are the dominant males of the families and each family usually has one silverback. However, there are some cases where there is more than one silverback in a single family. There are several gorilla families in Volcanoes National Park and they include some of the following.

Amahoro Gorilla Family

Amahoro is a Kinyarwanda word that means “peace” and by mere understanding of this word, you would tell that the Amahoro gorilla family is the most peaceful in Volcanoes National Park. This family consists of 3 silverbacks, 3 blackbacks, 2 adult females, 3 juveniles, and 1 infant making them a total of 12 members. The Amahoro gorilla family is headed by Ubumwe a peaceful dominant silverback. This family can be spotted on the slopes of Mount Bisoke where it has made it home for some time.

Umubano Gorilla Family

The Umubano gorilla family was formed as a result of misunderstandings between two huge silverbacks Ubumwe and Charles of the Amahoro gorilla family. Following months of fights and disagreements, Charles saw it best to break off from Ubumwe’s leadership and start his own family. Following this decision, the Umubano gorilla family was formed consisting of 12 members including 3 silverbacks, 3 blackbacks, 2 adult females, 3 juveniles, and 1 infant. The Umubano gorilla family is often seen interacting with its neighbor Amahoro family without conflict thus the name “Umubano” meaning neighbor.

Susa A Gorilla Family

The Susa A gorilla family is the most famous gorilla family in Volcanoes National Park. This is because this family was the first family Dian Fossey studied when she arrived in the park until she died. Poppy a veteran gorilla believed to have witnessed Dian Fossey during her research work in the park since it was born in 1976 is a must-watch for visitors. This family was named after the Susa River which flows through the family territory and is the main water source of the family which consists of 28 members. Due to this size, the members often roam far up in the mountain tops making it hard to track them.

You may be wondering why the letter “A” is in the Susa A gorilla family, this is because this family once had 42 members but in 2008 it divided and the Susa B gorilla family was formed. With the birth of Byishimo and Impano the twins, a lot of attention has been drawn to this family and attracted more visitors. This is because in most cases when a gorilla gives birth to twins one is abandoned to die since it is hard for the month to look after two infants. However, Nyabitondore kept her infants and looked after them.

Karisimbi Gorilla Family

The Karisimbi gorilla family is also known as the Susa B gorilla family. This family broke off from the Susa A gorilla family. This family group gets its name from Mount Karisimbi in Volcanoes National Park since it inhabits the slopes of the mountain. The Karisimbi gorilla family consists of 14 members.

Sabyinyo Gorilla Family

This family derives its name from Mount Sabyinyo because this family is located between the highland slopes of Mount Sabyinyo and Mount Gahinga. This family consists of 16 members and is headed by Guhonda a large strong silverback.

Hirwa Gorilla Family

Hirwa is a Kinyarwanda word that means lucky one. This gorilla family was formed after it broke off from the Sabyinyo gorilla family and the Agashya gorilla family. There are 19 members including 1 silverback, 1 blackback, 5 adult females, 1 adult female, 6 juveniles, and 5 infants.

Agashya Gorilla Family

The Agashya gorilla family is located on the slopes of Mount Sabyinyo harboring this territory with the Sabyinyo gorilla family. However, the dominant silverback Agashya is careful to avoid conflict with its neighbor family. This Agashya gorilla family got its name from its silverback who defended the former alpha male Nyakarima after studying his fighting technique for a long time. This family is also called “Group 13” because when it was formed it had only 13 members. However, it kept on growing as many individual gorillas and ousts joined it and now it consists of 20 members. These are 3 silverbacks, 5 blackbacks, 5 adult females, 1 young adult female, 1 young adult male, 3 juveniles, and 3 infants.