Bitangi is named in memory of a ViNP nurse. She is very calm and has a deep nose print. She joined the group in 2007 after a ferocious interaction between Mapuwa and her previous family.

Bitangi eating Bamboo.

The rangers lost touch with Bitangi’s family when the park was occupied by rebels in 2008 - a year that brought untold misery but that ended well. On 29 December the rangers found the Mapuwa Family and noted that their number had increased, from the 12 counted in the August 2007 census, to 14.

In Sept 2009, after nine difficult months of cohabitation, the group split. The two silverbacks, Mapuwa and Nvuyekere, had been interacting regularly and their separation seemed inevitable. The result was that three of the four adult females Jicho, Kagofero and Bitangi, left with Nvuyekure and four other individuals to form another group. Happily this situation did not last and the two groups amalgamated sometime during the early part of 2010.