The southern sector has undergone a lot of transformation since gorilla tourism effectively took root. Originally, the sector had got only Nshongi gorilla group which had the world’s largest mountain gorilla numbers in the family at its habituation. The group has since broken into three more families including Mishaya and Bweza.
The habituation of Kahungye however in the same sector has witnessed yet again another break away family established in the name of Busingye. Many gorilla tourists will find this welcome news as more permits will be available and thus tracking options. This latest secession has now brought the total family groups to a remarkable five all in one sector. The group is led by an ambitious Silver Back whose now legendary fights in the wild for adult females have earned him a privileged place in the circles of his peers. Busingye last split from the mother family of Kahungye on 4th June 2012 while Bweza split from the mother Shongi group on 1st August 2012.
Research from BMCA monitoring team led by Research Warden Kato Raymond indicates no intentions of the break way groups to fuse back to their parent families in future. Interactions between the “mother” families with their breakaway factions have always been characterized by fierce battles mostly restricted to the dominant males guarding their turf. Each group has since whenever possibilities occur tried to avoid direct interactions with one another for fear of the potential loss of members from the resultant fight.
The strong Busingye silver back has however from time to time showed how capable he is to tilt the power balance in the south which has a crowded home range of its habituated gorillas that keep over lapping one another. Whenever he interacts with a wild family, he mercilessly grabs a female from that group for himself.
The Area Conservation Manager BMCA Mr. Pontious Ezuma contends that with these gorilla dynamics coming into play, UWA has got more space available for tourists who intend to do gorilla tracking in the southern sector. He advises that the visitors can now book this family because it is one of the versatile and exciting groups one can visit for a memorable time while in Bwindi’s Impenetrable park for gorilla tourism.