Bukoma Sector

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park

Situated in the northern side of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Buhoma region is exceptionally one of the four most incredible tracking regions that you shouldn’t miss to track while on mountain gorilla adventures in Uganda. This region features as most famous as the oldest trailhead in Uganda given when it comes to mountain gorilla adventures.

Buhoma is set on an altitude of 1500km above sea level. It is located on the northern boundary of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

This sector is a pioneer of the gorilla trekking activity in Bwindi forest and Uganda in general. The sector was the first to host the first group of gorilla trekkers when Mubare gorilla family was opened for tracking in 1993. For 11 years, it remained the only trailhead for gorilla tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and this attracted the establishment of several lodges that include upmarket safari lodges.

Despite the opening of three other trailheads, Buhoma remains the most popular location for gorilla tracking and it remains the most booked fast destination.

Habituated Gorilla Families in the Buhoma Sector

When it comes to tourism activities in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Buhoma is the leading sector. Buhoma trailhead is credited with 3 of the 12 habituated that Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is proud of. The prominent groups in Buhoma include the Mubare which first received its first trekkers in October, 1993.

Buhoma sector is composed of the following habituated gorilla groups

Mubare aka Mubale gorilla family

This group is also known as M-group, one of the ancient gorilla groups that were habituated in 1991. Mubare gorilla group was first tracked by visitors as early as 1993. This group got its name from the most magnificent Mubare hills. At first, there were only twelve family members in this group but when their leader Ruhondeza died, only five of them remained. In 2013, Mubare gorilla group was joined by four other mountain gorillas which increased the number to 9 family members including one silverback, black back, one adult female and two juveniles. This group comprises of nine individuals and was also later led by Kanyonyi silverback plus Kashundwe as an infant.

Habinyanja gorilla family:

This is also known as H-group and it is one of the first habituated gorilla families in Buhoma trail-head. Habinyanja gorilla group was habituated in 1997 purposely for gorilla trekking and in 1999; it was successfully visited by tourists. For many years, this group has been visited by thousands of visitors all over the world. Tracking this group takes visitors the whole day or a total of about 5 hours and beyond. Habinyanja gorilla group is composed of 18 members with mainly 2 silverbacks although these figures keep altering due to newly born babies. This group was initially discovered around a swamp in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and hence the name Habinyanja which means Nyanja. It is important to note that mountain gorillas behave just like human beings, with time they also split and this applies to almost all the gorilla groups.

Rushegura gorilla family:

This amazing group is some times called R-group. Rushegura is one of the renowned larger gorilla families and it is composed of 21 members; including one silverback, blackback, five adult females, two sub adults, six juveniles and six infants. This group was first habituated in 2000 for gorilla tracking and in 2002; it received its first tourists. Tracking this group takes less time as its gorilla members tend to live near the park headquarters. However, mountain gorillas in this group also tend to move as far as outside Bwindi park boundary and this means, visitors can camp or stay around the area where they can chance to sight them in the following morning. For visitors who are interested in shorter treks, Rushegura gorilla group is preferably the perfect and huge group for you track for less than five hours. This is of no guarantee for visitors because these creatures tend to go beyond the park. just like other gorilla families in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, the Rushegura is another most splinter family that comes from the Habinyanja gorilla family.