Christmas is one of the newly opened gorilla groups in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the Nkuringo region. Despite a low number of visitors and its remoteness, the Nkuringo region has grown to become one of the most famous and sought-after gorilla regions in Uganda. It was opened in 2004 after the successful habituation of its first-ever gorilla family, Nkuringo.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is the world’s largest and most famous mountain gorilla destination, home to over 600 mountain gorillas (50% of the world’s total) and with up to 36 gorilla families altogether. However, only 16 groups are currently fully habituated for tracking.
The Christmas gorilla family is the most recently habituated in the Nkuringo sector, with a total of 9 members, but only 6 are normally seen by visitors. These include 1 silverback (Christmas), 3 adult females, 1 blackback, and 1 baby. The name Christmas was derived from the dominant silverback named Christmas, who broke off from the pioneer Nkuringo family to form his own group.
Since Christmas moved away from the Nkuringo family with his members, no additional habituation was needed as they were already habituated from their time in the Nkuringo family. Therefore, the officials allowed the group to settle while they were regularly monitored until the group found a permanent residence.
The introduction of this group came at a time when the demand for gorilla trekking permits in the Nkuringo region was high, necessitating an increase from the previous 8 permits to 16 permits each day.
The Christmas gorilla group brought the total number of families in the Nkuringo region to 3, plus Bushaho, which is still under habituation. The group can now be trekked all year round, with trekking permits costing $600 per person, just like any other gorilla group in Bwindi National Park.
The other fully habituated gorilla family in the Nkuringo region is the Nkuringo family, the first gorilla family to be habituated and launched for gorilla trekking in this region in 2004.
