Are there gorillas in Rwanda?
Are there gorillas in Rwanda? Undeniably, there are mountain gorillas in Rwanda. For any tourists planning to visit Rwanda, he or she should be confident of the presence of mountain gorillas in this country. Rwanda has boosted its tourism industry based on the presence of endangered mountain gorillas. There are approximately over 390 mountain gorillas in Rwanda which have facilitated or boosted the activity of gorilla trekking into Rwanda dubbed the country of a thousand hills.
In Rwanda mountain gorillas are found in Volcanoes National Park and it forms the highest number of mountain gorillas in the whole of Virunga Massif which it shares with the Mgahinga gorilla family in D.R. Congo and Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Gorillas are herbivores and they inhabit the dense forests of sub-Saharan Africa. For anyone to see he or she must travel to wildness to spot them since they cannot survive well under captivity.
Gorillas on earth are subdivided into subspecies known as low land and mountain gorillas. Uganda and Rwanda shelters Eastern gorillas that live in mountains and are referred to as mountain gorillas whereas the Democratic Republic of Rwanda harbors both low land Gorillas and mountain gorillas. All these gorillas are endangered and they need special conservation efforts.
The recent survey revealed that there about 1063 Mountain gorillas left in the world and about 550 gorillas live in the Virunga ranges of which Rwanda’s volcanoes national park shares the biggest percentage of gorillas while the remaining half of the gorillas are found in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National park. This confirms that in Rwanda there are gorillas that live in Volcanoes National Park.
Endangered Mountains in Rwanda reside in groups or families and each family is led by dominant silverbacks. In Rwanda, there are twelve habituated families of gorillas that are available for tourists to track while the rest are reserved for research services and this makes Rwanda an important destination for gorilla trekking which is carried out in Volcanoes National park.
The habituated gorilla families in Rwanda include the Uganda gorilla family, the Hirwa gorilla family, the Sabinyo gorilla family, the Karisimbi gorilla group, Susa gorilla family group A, Susa gorilla group family B, Agashya gorilla group, Amahoro Gorilla group, Umubano gorilla family and Isimbi gorilla group. Besides, the Shida gorilla family group and Beetseme gorilla family have got the highest gorilla individual among the gorilla families reserved for research purposes.
Gorilla trekking still in Rwanda is carried out in volcanoes National park and a group of only 8 tourists is allowed to visits each gorilla group per day. Some of the gorilla families stay near the park headquarters while others you will need to travel for a long distance to track calling for physical fitness. The activity of gorilla trekking in Rwanda is done all the year but basically, mountain gorillas are bests seen during the dry season when they are no incidences of slippery and muddy environment.
You can access volcanoes by a private drive from Kigali international airport via the road and this journey will take for you about 2 to 3 hours to reach the Volcano Park Headquarter. Come and have a memorable experience e with endangered Mountain Gorillas in Volcanoes National park.