Umubano means “good neighborly relations” in Kinyarwanda — a name that reflects the circumstances of the family’s formation. In 2004, a silverback named Charles left the Amahoro family with a group of females and established an independent group. The two families have ranged the same general area of the Mount Bisoke slopes ever since, occasionally encountering each other in the forest, which gives the name its specific resonance: two families sharing neighbouring territory, maintaining a cautious but functioning proximity. The Umubano family is named not after a characteristic of the silverback but after the nature of the relationship the split created.
The Silverback: Charles
Charles is one of the more recognisable silverbacks in Rwanda’s trekking programme — partly because the story of his departure from Amahoro and the establishment of his own family is well-documented in the Rwanda Development Board’s gorilla monitoring records, and partly because guides and rangers who have worked the Bisoke area for years know his individual movement patterns and personality well. He is a confident, assertive silverback whose separating from Amahoro demonstrated the determination that successful group-formation requires. The Umubano family under Charles has produced successful births consistently since the 2004 split.
Family Composition and Trek
Umubano is a medium-sized family that ranges alongside Amahoro on the Bisoke slopes. The proximity of the two groups means that encounters occasionally involve awareness of the other family’s location — trackers sometimes note fresh signs of Amahoro when searching for Umubano or vice versa. Trek time: 1 to 2.5 hours. Altitude: 2,500–3,000 metres. Difficulty: moderate. Similar terrain to the Amahoro approach, involving bamboo forest ascent followed by the mixed montane zone.