Mountain Gorillas In Uganda

Mountain Gorillas In Uganda

Mountain gorillas in Uganda are resident of Bwindi forest National Park and Mgahinga national park in south western corner of Uganda. Mountain gorillas live in families under the leadership of a silverback which is an adult male with a greyish appearance at the back that develops as a result of aging and maturity.

Mountain gorilla feeding habitats

Although mountain gorillas are huge in size, they are fully vegetarian and in a day, a mountain gorilla may feed on plenty of kilograms of vegetable.  Bamboo is there favorite delicacy, fruits,  ants, soft stems and others. Mountain gorilla generally spend most of there day feeding and the evening are dominated by relaxing, feed the infant and playing by the juveniles until the evening when they re-nest.

Mountain gorillas normally stay in a feeding area for about a 1year and it’s the work of the dominant silverback to search for a new area for his family to feed in. In case a mother passes away, he normally takes care of the orphans to the extent of sleeping with him or her in the nest. Because of there size, mountain gorillas normally move short distance of about 1 km and this is the reason why they can be accessed during gorilla trekking. When tortured by a wild group or a family member passes away, the entire gorilla family moves deep into the forest to mourn.

How do mountain gorillas live?

Mountain gorillas live in families under the autocratic leadership of a dominant silverback. A Silverback develops a greyish line at the back at the about the age of 13 years and may start to attract mature females from other families. In a family, there is normally one silverback and if another develops, he may either live the family or keep on attacking his family to take up leadership,

Mountain gorillas are residents of the Virunga volcanic area and can either be found at the slopes of the ridge or the bottom of the valleys depending on food availability.

What else to do in Bwindi forest national park

Gorilla tracking may be the dominant activity in Bwindi forest National Park but there are other activities on ground that can be done. Some of them include:

 Bird Watching

Bwindi forest National Park is a habitat for several bird especially the albertine endemics.

Over 190 bird species have been sighted in Bwindi and on a lovely day, you may identify between 40 to 50 species of birds like the grey throated barbet, Elliot wood pecker, red tailed bubul, icterine and yellow whiskered greenbuls, white- browed crombec, white- tailed blue flycatcher, narrow- tailed starling, luhder’s and doherty’s bush- shrikes to mention but a few. Several birds can also be identified during gorilla trekking which is a double advantage. Read More

Guided forest walks

Bwindi forest supports a great diversity of wildlife and highlands. Through the different trails set in the forest by Uganda wildlife Authority, you can get to know losts of other incredible creatures. The Munyanga River trail is one of those you can take but this is placed outside the park. It starts at the end Buhoma road following the Bizenga river, to its confluence with Muyanga prior to returning to Buhoma road at the community camp site.   This trail is also a birder’s haven READ MORE >>>>>>>

Batwa Community walk

The Batwa community walk is one of the activities you can participate in before or after gorilla trekking in Bwindi. The Batwa pygmies were residents of Bwindi Forest which was the soul provider of there daily needs. During the Batwa community visit, you get to know the incredible back ground through their tales, focal songs, skits and dances. This has been one of the unique community encounters READ MORE >>>>>>>

Village walk

Close by Buhoma are other communities like the Bakiga whose life depends on agriculture for a commercial purpose. This activity is under the leadership of the Buhoma community Rest camp and its is the one of the ways you can give back to the locals.