A baby gorilla has been born in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The new born is from one of the adult females of the Nkurungo family. The positive conservation news has been shared by the Uganda wildlife Authority (UWA), a government parastatal managing Uganda national Parks on 20th April 2024 in.
UWA confirmed that both the baby and the mother are all in good health condition. This beautiful news was announced by the Uganda wildlife authority
Within a post that was shared on social media, UWA went ahead and shared a photo of the mother and baby so awe-inspiring! This beautiful photo was captured by one of the UWA field rangers using a personnel cellphone.
This information of a new born baby gorilla brings the number to 15 individuals in this sector of the park (Nkuringo gorilla family) hence this brings guarantee to gorilla sightings in the Nkuringo sector.
This news is a great joy to tour operators and wildlife conservationists. Every birth of a baby gorilla means celebrations to the conservation community since there are just about 1000 mountain gorillas left in the whole world.
Therefore, each new addition to the gorilla families translates into a cause for celebration and offers hope for the conservation of these remarkable endangered species that thrive in only Uganda, Rwanda and the DR Congo. Baby gorillas are not only adorable but also critical for the long-term survival of their species.
Uganda is one of the three countries that host the endangered mountain gorillas. The other two countries are Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Uganda is blessed to host nearly half of the world’s mountain gorilla population found on the slopes in Mgahinga and Bwindi National Park.
There are only two known species of the gorillas; the Eastern gorilla and the Western gorilla. The mountain gorilla is a subspecies that belongs to the eastern gorilla. It thrives in only in the East-Central African rain forests and live in the mountains as their names suggests.
Uganda has a total of 24 habituated gorilla families that can be visited by tourists and each gorilla family is lead by a dominant silverback gorilla. The 22 gorilla groups are available for gorilla trekking and the rest are for the Gorilla Habituation Experience.
The Nkuringo Gorilla Family is one of the oldest gorilla families to be habituated for gorilla tourism. The group lives in the southern section of Bwindi National Park. It was habituated in 2004. Nkuringo is a local meaning ‘’Rolling hills’’, it was because of the rolling hills where this group was first spotted.
Initially the Nkuringo gorilla family had many members, however as time went by some members started splits and formed their own gorilla families. Other joined other members. The dominant silverback gorilla was called the Nkuirngo. However he died in 2008, and after his death two silverback gorillas managed to takeover power including Rafiki and Safari.
However later on, his son safari managed to take over the group, after a few months. Within his group a female gorilla known as Kwitonda welcomed twins which brought joy among the group. Twins are a rare case in the lives of gorillas and the twins were named Muhoozi and Katungi. On the sad note Katungi died at the age of 18th due to illness.
The time taken to meet the gorillas in the Nkuringo sector is unpredictable. However trekking can go between 3-7 hours and a reasonable degree of fitness is needed.
