The Busingye Gorilla Family can be trekked in the Rushaga sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This group was formed in August 2012, when the silverback Busingye challenged another silverback in the Kahungye Gorilla Family and decided to start his own family. Book a Uganda trek to see how a Busingye visit fits into your safari.
The Busingye Gorilla Family consists of 9 members, including 1 silverback, 5 blackbacks, and 3 infants. The group is named after the silverback Busingye, a word that means “peace” in the local language.
An Ironic Name
The name is somewhat ironic, since Busingye is often seen fighting with other gorilla groups, both to take members for his own family and to protect his group from other wild gorillas. This makes for one of the more interesting contrasts among Rushaga’s gorilla families, a name meaning peace attached to one of the sector’s more combative silverbacks.
The best way to meet this group is by booking gorilla trekking tours from Kigali.
Other Popular Gorilla Families in the Rushaga Sector of Bwindi
Kahungye Gorilla Family: The Kahungye Gorilla Family became available for trekking in 2011 and is one of the families in the Rushaga sector of Bwindi National Park. The group is named after the Kahungye Hills in Bwindi, where it was first sighted by trekkers. Initially, the family had 27 members during habituation but later split when Busingye left to form his own family, now known as the Busingye Gorilla Family.
Bweza Gorilla Family: The Bweza Gorilla Family is a breakaway group from the famous Nshongi Gorilla Family, which was once the largest habituated gorilla family in Bwindi. Mishaya, a member of Nshongi, left to form his own family, and two years later, Bweza also split, taking some members to form the Bweza Gorilla Family.
Mishaya Gorilla Family: The Mishaya Gorilla Family was created when the silverback Mishaya broke away from the Nshongi Gorilla Family to start his own group. Mishaya was known to be ambitious and often fought other gorilla families to take members for his own group. He was once injured by a silverback from a non-habituated gorilla family while attempting to take members from that group. Mishaya was later found dead, though the cause of his death was unclear. His successor, Mwiine, now leads the family.
Gorilla Permits
Uganda gorilla permits cost $800 per person to trek the Busingye Gorilla Family. Gorilla habituation permits cost $1,500 per person.
Although habituation permits are more expensive, they are worth the cost, since you get to spend more time with the mountain gorillas compared to regular trekking.
Rushaga’s Web of Related Families
The Busingye, Kahungye, Bweza, and Mishaya families are all connected through a history of splits and challenges among silverbacks, making Rushaga one of the richest sectors in Bwindi for observing how gorilla family dynamics evolve over time. Visitors who trek any of these groups may find it worth asking their guide about the shared lineage running through several of Rushaga’s habituated families, since it adds useful context to what can otherwise seem like a fairly standard trekking day.
