Volcanoes National Park is the oldest national park not only in Rwanda but the entire Africa. It was established in 1925 during the colonial days under the Belgian government at that time. During these years of Belgian rule in Rwanda, the boundaries of the park were extended as far as the Democratic Republic of Congo which was also under their rule. This was shortly after the discovery of mountain gorillas in this area. Volcanoes National Park was established to protect the bio-diversity of both the flora and fauna species. Volcanoes National Park is located in the northwestern region of Rwanda in Musanze village. It is approximately 160 square kilometers of land mass bordering Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park of Uganda.

The park hosted the renowned mountain gorilla conservationist Dian Fossey when she came from Virunga National Park. Dian Fossey helped to foster the worldwide conservation campaign of endangered mountain gorillas in the park. Upon arrival at the park, Dian Fossey set up her research center at Karisoke inside the park. In 1985, the most unfortunate thing happened shaking the world Dian Fossey was murdered. It is believed that the gorilla poachers were responsible for her death. She was buried at the Karisoke Research Center in Volcanoes National Park. However, her conservational programs were not in vain and yielded many returns until this day. She is still recognized for her work and many tourists flock to the park to pay their last respects to the unsung heroine.

Since Volcanoes National Park falls under the Virunga conservation area, it hosts the endangered mountain gorillas. This conservation area also covers national parks like Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bwindi Impenetrable, and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks in Uganda. Mountain gorillas live in groups known as families headed by a dominant male gorilla called a silverback.

Volcanoes National Park consists of about 350 individual mountain gorillas with over 13 families but only 10 families are habituated. The following are some of the gorilla families in the park.

Amahoro Gorilla Family

Amahoro in Kinyarwanda means peace, this family is considered the most peaceful in the entire park. This family is located on the steep slopes of Mount Bisoke in the park. It is headed by Ubumwe the dominant silverback. The Amahoro gorilla family is comprised of 12 individual members. These include 3 silverbacks, 3 blackbacks, 2 adult females, 3 juveniles, and 1 infant.

Umubano Gorilla Family

Umubano means neighbor in the Kinyarwanda local language. This family is headed by Charles the Silverback who after disagreements and fights with Ubumwe decided to leave the Amahoro family and start his own. The Umubano gorilla family was once part of the Amahoro family. However, these fights did not take away the respect and brotherly love of the two Silverbacks because the two families lived close to each other in harmony.

They often visit and interact with each other. There are 12 members in this family including 3 silverbacks, 3 blackbacks, 2 adult females, 3 juveniles, and 1 infant.

Susa A Gorilla Family

Susa A family gets its name from the River Susa which is the main water source of the family since it flows through the territory of the family. This family is a very important family to as it was part of Dian Fossey’s research programs and also hosts Byishimo and Impano the twins. Mountain gorillas in their nature tend to look after one infant at a time and when a moth gives birth to twins, one is abandoned. However, in this case, the twins were kept by their mother Nyabitondore who takes very good care of them.

It once had 42 family members but in 2008 it divided and now has only 28 members. Poppy is a mountain gorilla veteran believed to be born in 1976 and is part of the few mountain gorillas that spotted Dian Fossey and took part in her research.

Susa B or Karisimbi Gorilla Family

The Karisimbi gorilla family is known as the Susa B family because it was once part of the big Susa A gorilla family but split. It has 14 individual gorillas residing on the slopes of Mountain Karisimbi. This family was named after this mountain.

Sabyinyo Gorilla Family

Guhonda the silverback is the dominant silverback of the Sabyinyo gorilla family which consists of 16 members. The Sabyinyo gorilla family gets its name from the mountain Sabyinyo. This family’s territory is located between Mount Sabyinyo and Mount Gahinga in Rwanda.

Hirwa Gorilla Family

With 19 individual gorillas in the Hirwa gorilla family, it is one of the big families of Volcanoes National Park. The word Hirwa in the local Kinyarwanda language means the lucky one. This is because its formation came as luck since it was after some individual gorillas from both the Sabyinyo and Agashya gorilla families broke away from their families to start their own.

Agashya Gorilla Family

The Agashya gorilla family is also called Group 13 because, by the time it was formed, it had only 13 members. This family is named after its dominant silverback Agashya. This silverback Agashya came to the spotlight after years of carefully studying the fighting techniques of his rival silverback Nyakarima. He then prepared and defeated him, overthrew him, and took over as the dominant silverback.

This family resides on the slopes of Mount Sabyinyo carefully avoiding conflict with the neighboring families. This family has 20 members now including 3 silverbacks, 5 blackbacks, 5 adult females, 1 young adult female, 1 young adult male, 3 juveniles, and 3 infants.

Kwitonda Gorilla Family

The Kwitonda gorilla family gets its name from the former dominant silverback Kwitonda which means the humble one in the local language. This family is a migratory family which came from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It resides on the slopes of Mount Muhabura with 2 silverbacks, 2 blackbacks, 10 adult females, 1 sub-adult male, 7 juveniles, and 7 infants. Amounting to 29 individual gorillas in this Kwitonda gorilla family.

Ugenda Gorilla Family

The Ugenda gorilla family is unique due to its habit of always moving. The word ugenda means on the move in Kinyarwanda. Trekking this family is quite challenging because it’s a bit hard to locate their next destination as they are ever on the move. The Ugenda gorilla family is usually spotted on the slopes of Mount Karisimbi.