Mubare Gorilla Family in Buhoma Sector of Bwindi Forest
Mubare Gorilla Family is one of the gorilla groups found in Buhoma Sector in the north of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Mubare family was the first mountain gorilla group in Uganda to be habituated in 1998. The trekkers first saw it in areas of Mubare hills in Bwindi Impenetrable forest. This family was headed by Ruhondeza who passed away in 2013 following a fierce fight against a blackbuck in the family. A weakened Ruhondeza accepted defeat and quit the family.
Some years back, Mubare was under the leadership of the late Ruhondeza who headed the groups with about 18 gorilla members. But with time his family reduced in numbers since he never groomed a successor as he aged. Ruhondeza was always jealous of any upcoming successor. The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) official were always suspicious of Ruhondeza’s likely murder of any youthful black silverback gorilla that would take over his leadership position.
The year 2009 was a hard for Mubare family as it lost 3 of its members. In the early months of the year, an adult female died of a rupture to the head and she left behind six-month infant who was taken care of by the group. But later, the young one was found in the morning lying dead by the trackers on the bed of Ruhondeza. The deceased infant couldn’t be taken care of well by the group and didn’t not eat well.
Down from 18 members, the family continuously lost members up to when they remained five in number. Another tragedy hit Mubare family in 2012 as the gorilla unit under Ruhondeza headship was attached by some wild non-habituated gorillas, overpowered him and took away some females. Frustrated and humiliated, Ruhondeza quit the leadership of the family and took asylum in the neighboring community jungle. But due to the fact that the community liked him, people never pursued him away. He was left to freely live there as a team of Uganda wildlife Authority officials put a keen monitoring eye on him. Unfortunately, Ruhondeza later passed away and died in a sleep. Ruhondeza was accorded a respectful burial near UWA offices in Buhoma. If you are Buhoma areas and you ask the park rangers/guides to show you Ruhondeza gravesite, they would take to the resting place of the great silverback.
Other Gorilla Groups in Buhoma Gorilla Trekking Sector in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Besides Mubare Gorilla Group, Buhoma region has three other gorilla families available for tracking by visitors to Bwindi forest. These gorilla groups include:-
Gorilla Trekking in Buhoma Sector Bwindi
Buhoma region of Bwindi forest is one of the most prefered areas for trekking gorillas in Uganda. Being found in the north of the park, the area is well accessed from Kampala city and Queen Elizabeth National Park. For the 3 days gorilla trekking safari bwindi, Buhoma is the nearest from Kampala and furtherest from Kigali. This means, Buhoma is not ideal for gorilla visitors from Rwanda. For those doing longer safari involving tours to Queen Elizabeth National Park, it is easy to connect to Buhoma via Ishasha Sector. Some of the packages for gorilla tracking Buhoma area include:-