The Katwe gorilla group is one of the more recently habituated families in the Buhoma sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Buhoma, in the north of the park, was Uganda’s original gorilla trekking region, opened in 1993 following the successful habituation of the Mubare family, Bwindi’s first ever habituated group. Bwindi as a whole is home to roughly 379 mountain gorillas, one of the largest concentrations of the species anywhere in the world.
Habituation and Naming
Katwe takes its name from a prominent hill in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, where the family’s habituation process began. That process took around three years to complete, with the Uganda Wildlife Authority officially opening the family for trekking in January 2018. The addition of Katwe came at a time of high demand for permits in Buhoma, and helped raise the sector’s daily permit allocation from 24 to 32.
Family Structure
Katwe currently has 7 members: 1 silverback, 2 adult females, 2 blackbacks, and 2 infants.
Buhoma’s Gorilla Families
Katwe brought Buhoma’s total number of gorilla families to four, alongside Mubare, the sector’s original family from 1993, Rushegura, one of the most popular families in Buhoma, and Habinyanja. A fifth family, Binyindo, remains under habituation and is not yet open to visitors.
Trekking the Katwe Family
Katwe is open for trekking year-round, with permits costing $800 per person, the same standard rate that applies across all of Bwindi’s gorilla families.
How Gorilla Habituation Works
Habituating a gorilla family is a slow process carried out by researchers working alongside the Uganda Wildlife Authority and park rangers, who follow a specific family daily over an extended period until the gorillas grow comfortable with human presence.
As one of Buhoma’s newest habituated families, Katwe offers a genuinely fresh trekking experience within Uganda’s original gorilla trekking sector. Book your gorilla trekking permit with our team today, and we’ll help you plan the trek alongside the rest of your Bwindi itinerary.
