Oruzogo Gorilla Family
Oruzogo Gorilla Family: Bwindi impenetrable forest national park is located in the south western par of Uganda; it’s the country’s priceless gem harboring half of the remaining population of the endangered mountain gorillas that were almost extinct in the 19th century.
Bwindi impenetrable forest national park is home to twelve habituated gorilla families, two of these habituated groups are for research purposes and the other ten are for tourism purposes. Habituated gorillas groups are the ones that have been made to get used to human presence.
The Oruzogo gorilla family can be found in the Ruhijja area of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park, this group was opened up for tourism in 2011 dominated by the silverback Tibirkwata. This family has got many young gorillas that are exciting to behold as they go about their day to day activities.
The name Oruzogo is derived from a local word for a “plant” which is found in the home range of the Oruzogo gorilla family, this mountain gorilla family can be tracked from either Ruhijja area or even Buhoma area of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park.
The other gorilla groups in the Ruhijja sector of Bwindi forest are Kyaguriro and Bitukura gorilla families. The Kyaguriro gorilla family is one of the gorilla groups that have been habituated for study purposes helping scientists and researchers to learn more about the mountain gorillas.
The Bitukura group in this same area where the Oruzogo family resides was habituated in 2007, the Bitukura gorilla family was one of the easiest groups to habituate in that it took only 15 months yet the process normally takes about 2 years.
There are a lot of tourists activities that can be enjoyed at Bwindi impenetrable forest national park like birding, bird enthusiasts can go for birding and spot various bird species such as white tailed blue monarch, short tailed warbler, Kivu ground thrush and rusty face woodland gruels rush warbler among the 341 species found in the park.
Tourists can also ho for cultural encounters with the Batwa people, the Batwa are a hunter gathering tribe that is believed to have lived in he forest for over 500,000 years until they were displaced when the park was established. They have very unique ways of lives, enjoy local traditional dances and music and also acquire some gifts to take home for remembrance.
Tourists trekking the Oruzogo gorilla family can sleep in accommodation such as Wag tail eco safari camp, chameleon hill lodge, Ruhijja community rest camp, Ruhijja gorillas friends resort and campsite, cuckoo land tented lodge, gift of nature lodge, Ruhijja gorilla mist camp, Ruhijja safari lodge and Ruhijja gorilla mist camp among others.
To trek the Oruzogo group of mountain gain gorillas’ tourists will need to book heir gorilla permits in advance and they cost $600 per person. Once the tourists have found gorillas, they are given a period of one hour to observe his unique species of apes and please pay attention to the ranger guide when trekking and with mountain gorillas.
Bwindi impenetrable forest national park is 9-10 hours drive from Kampala and 4-5 hours drive from Kigali Rwanda. Though the Kampala route is long it rewards tourists with magical landscapes and lots of adventure on the way.
