The Katwe family lives in the Buhoma sector of Bwindi National Park. Buhoma is also home to the first habituated gorilla family in Bwindi. Katwe was opened for trekking in August 2018 and is one of the newly habituated groups in the park.
The family has 7 members, including 1 silverback, 4 adult females, and 2 infants. It was habituated at the same time as the Christmas family. Like all gorilla groups, the number of members changes over time due to births, deaths, and movement between families.
Trekking the Katwe Gorilla Group
Trekking the Katwe family starts early in the morning after a briefing at the park headquarters. The trek can take from 30 minutes to 7 hours depending on the family’s location and the hikers’ pace. Once the gorillas are found, visitors are allowed one hour to observe and take photos.
A gorilla permit in Uganda costs $800 per person and must be booked 3–6 months in advance, especially in peak season. A gorilla habituation permit costs $1,500 per person.
Uganda can be visited all year, but the best time for trekking is during the dry months from June to early September and December to February, when trails are less muddy and easier to hike.
Gorilla trekking requires good physical fitness and proper gear. Items to carry include strong hiking boots, warm and long-sleeved clothes, garden gloves, insect repellent, sunglasses, binoculars, plenty of drinking water, and energy snacks. Porters are available at the start of the trek to help carry luggage at an affordable cost.
Mountain gorillas are an endangered species of primates found in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, Virunga National Park in Congo, and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda.
They are a subspecies of the Eastern gorilla. The other subspecies, the eastern lowland gorilla, lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The estimated number of mountain gorillas in the wild is less than 1,500 individuals.
Gorillas are mainly herbivores, with about 90 percent of their diet made up of fruits, leaves, stems, bark, roots, and bamboo shoots. Sometimes they add ants, insects, and termites. They spend most of the day feeding and return to their nests in the evening to sleep.
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