REMARKABLE TWIN MOUNTAIN GORILLAS IN UGANDA

Have you ever thought about seeing gorilla twins in the wild? Did you know that mountain gorillas give birth to twins? Mountain gorillas are rated as the world’s critically endangered primates in the world. In the whole world, they only count less than 900 and only reside within the jungles of Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) making them the most sought after primates by trekkers. Uganda mountain gorillas are only found in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park just as you head to Southwestern part of the country and tracking them costs $600 per visitor. Uganda isn’t only popular as one of Africa’s best or safest countries but also as destination to excite the mind with tremendous wild mountain gorillas.

MOTHER GORILLA

With not more than 900 mountain gorillas in the world, Uganda is proud to be a home to more than 480 gorillas, taking more than half of mountain gorillas that live on earth. Just like humans, these spectacular wild creatures also live in families with a silverback gorilla as their main leader. For travelers who intend to have their safaris to the misty valleys of Southwestern Uganda, they will have opportunity to explore more about the daily behaviors of these incredible creatures in any of the 12 habituated gorilla families that are all set for tourism purposes while those who may wish to engage in gorilla habituation experience, there only two gorilla groups for them to achieve their dreams that is say Bushaho and Bikingi gorilla family. If Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is your best option, there are 11 (eleven) habituated gorilla families that are set for gorilla trekking and only one gorilla group is tracked in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.

Like any wild primate, mountain gorillas usually give birth to only one baby gorilla at a time!  Surprisingly, Uganda has time and again encountered one of the astounding moments of a kind in the jungles of Bwindi impenetrable Forest. If you wish to see exciting and playful baby gorillas that people have talked about and inspired the minds of many travelers, then Bwindi is preferably the best option for you to have your next safari holiday. The only unfortunate bit of it is that, even when these creatures give birth to twins, they find it hard to raise them up to maturity age and factors underlying their low survival rate in the wild aren’t yet ascertained. For many, they attribute it to hardship that the mother gorilla encounters while taking care of all the babies at once. The mother gorillas are usually carry the sole responsibility of taking care of these infants at their early birth age and even with high energy demands to nurse the twins, the mother gorilla won’t allow any other family member to carry her babies in any way as it is a case with humans!!

On record, there are currently four documented cases of gorilla twin births in Uganda for the past 50 years. There are several other birth cases that have been encountered in the wilderness of Bwindi although they are not yet included on records. It is a exciting moment to experience twins in a gorilla habitat and Bwindi has time and again been on top list with gorilla birth rates. This treasure has not come for the sake but it takes one to be patient enough and given the fact that 50% of the Bwindi mountain gorillas are not yet habituated, chances are the number of twin gorillas can even double and given the fact that many of them have not been put on record and in most cases, monitoring them in the wild isn’t that easy. Usually, Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) trackers have encountered three mothers from wild unhabituated gorillas with twin gorillas. With these figures, we can say Uganda is a home to 7 twin gorillas.

In 2004, Uganda encountered its first set of twin gorilla babies and this occurred in Nkuringo gorilla group of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Unfortunately, one of the infants passed away just after the mother gave birth because the mother wasn’t in position to take care of all them at once. The twin gorillas in Nkuringo group were encountered from mother Kwitonda and they were named Katungi and Muhozi. Katungi passed on when he was one year and half because of sickness. However, another set of twin was experienced in 2008 and still in Nkuringo gorilla family. There are many records about twin gorillas around Kyaguriro gorilla family.

The only major challenge that most of the mother gorilla encounter is raising the twins during the early weeks. Keeping them with other gorilla family members is in deed a hectic responsibility. In most cases, these weak mother gorillas are seen struggling to take care of the baby gorillas in the wild.

In conclusion, mountain gorillas have a slow reproductive rate and female gorilla becomes sexually active at six years. The gestation period for gorilla is 8.5 months and they have birth interval of 4 to 5 years. Enjoy your trips with us in Uganda!