Updated
Mountain gorillas are not strictly territorial: each group has a home range that it uses regularly, and the ranges of neighbouring groups overlap. In the Virunga volcanoes, where food plants are abundant, groups usually travel less than a kilometre a day within ranges of roughly 5–15 km². In Bwindi, where gorillas eat more seasonal fruit, they tend to travel further each day and use larger ranges, often several tens of square kilometres. These movements decide how long your trek will be on the day.
Home range, not territory
A territory is an area an animal defends against others; a home range is simply the area it uses. Gorillas do not patrol or mark boundaries, and several groups may feed in the same valley at different times. What silverbacks defend is their group, especially females, rather than land. When two groups meet, silverbacks may hoot, chest-beat and display, and occasionally fight, while females sometimes use the encounter to transfer to the other group. See our guide to what makes a silverback.
Daily travel
A typical day starts with feeding after leaving the night nests, followed by a long midday rest, more feeding in the afternoon, and nest-building in the evening. Because leaves and stems are everywhere in the Virungas, groups there often move only a few hundred metres to a kilometre a day. Bwindi’s gorillas travel further on days when they are seeking fruiting trees, and long journeys are more common in fruit seasons. Larger groups also tend to travel further, as they need more food. See our guide to mountain gorilla habitat.
Seasons and the rains
Movement changes with the seasons. In the Virungas, groups move into bamboo zones when new shoots appear in the rains. In Bwindi, fruiting seasons draw groups into particular valleys and sometimes higher or lower on the slopes. Some habituated groups also spend time at the forest edge or even on nearby farmland, which affects how far trekkers walk. See our guide to crop raiding and other conservation challenges.
What this means for your trek
Trackers start each morning from the previous night’s nest site and follow the trail, then radio the location to your ranger. If the group moved only a little since the day before, your walk may take an hour; if it travelled far or into a steep valley, it can take five or six hours or more. No sector or family guarantees a short trek, because gorillas move every day. The permit costs US$800, or US$600 in April, May and November. See our guide to how trackers find gorillas.
Frequently asked questions
Not strictly. Groups have overlapping home ranges; silverbacks defend their group rather than land.
Often under a kilometre in the Virungas, and somewhat further in Bwindi.
Roughly 5–15 km² in the Virungas and larger in Bwindi.
Because each group moves daily, and trackers must follow it from the last nest site.
