This family was introduced in 17th June 2006 at a time trackers saw its creation from other rising gorillas from 2 various gorilla groups; group 13 and Sabyinyo and this makes it the smallest gorilla family.
Lucky enough, more gorillas joined the family and today this group is proud to be a home to 9 members, one silverback, three adult female gorillas, two sub adult female gorillas and three baby gorillas. Besides its being the recently formed gorilla family, Hirwa shows strength and holds its own from the rest of already existing families in the park.
The family was formed when Munyinya, a silverback gorilla split away from the Susa Family. Munyinya used to cause troubles by mating with some adult females within the Susa family.
After the split, Munyiga kept on collecting females from other gorilla families; Sabyinyo, Agashya (also known as Group 13) and Kwitonda Gorilla Family. His family grew up to 20 members and it is one of the few gorilla families which have registered twins. The twins are still surviving and these are Isango Gakuru and Isango Gato who were born to an adult female known as Kabatwa.
In February 2019, Munyinya the leader of the gorilla family succumbed to a proplonged illness and his son Uburanga is the leader of the group.
The Hirwa Family can be trekked from the Volcanoes National Park and lives close to Mgahinga National Park. In 2019, the family migrated to Mgahinga National Park and visitors could track it from the Uganda side.
After a loss of some of its members due to lightening, the Hirwa returned back to the Volcanoes National Park at the end of April 2020. Unfortunately, only 11 of the 17 members that had crossed to Rwanda returned.
Four members were reported to have been struck by lightening while two members were reported to have succumbed to intestinal obstruction and respiratory infection.
In January 2020, an infant was born in Mgahinga National Park but later passed away due to intestinal obstruction of the colon.
Hirwa is one of the mountain gorilla families that roam within the Virunga Massif and it is known to range within the three protected areas. It is normal for mountain gorillas to roam within the Virunga Massif freely.