Top Activities Done In Virunga National Park
Top Activities Done In Virunga National Park : Virunga national park is located in the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo and it lies within the Albertine rift valley. This national park is considered to be among the oldest national parks in the country due to fact that it was established as a game park in 1952 and it covers a total surface area of about 77g, 893 square kilometers. More so, Virunga National park is also seen as a great ecological system which is surrounded by tropical rain forests with dense vegetation and the montane forests with over 3000 floral species which act as good natural habitats to many wildlife species most especially to the endangered mountain gorilla species that are considered to be top tourist attraction in this park which has led many people to travel from different parts of the world to visit the park.
More so, exploring through Virunga National park provides tourists with fascinating and beautiful moments during their safari whereby they get chances to engage in a couple of interesting activities and some of these include;
Gorilla trekking.
Gorilla trekking is considered as the main highlight activity done by so many people touring around Virunga national park due to the fact that this national park is a home to over 8 habituated mountain gorilla species which are always available to be trekked such as; Mapuwa gorilla group, Humba gorilla group, Kabirizi gorilla group, Rugendo gorilla group, Bageni gorilla group, Nyakamwe gorilla group, Lulengo gorilla group, Munyaga gorilla group among others.
However, this activity is best for individuals who are physically fit and are in a good health shape because it involves tourists to hike through the hilly-forested slopes searching where the mountain gorilla species are always located which seems abit tiring. And this activity always begins from at Bukima patrol post where tourists are always advised to arrive an hour before the trekking begins because they always first go through the registration process and also get briefed about the rules and regulations to follow while during the trekking for example; to avoid eating and drinking while in the presence of the species, avoid maintaining a direct eye contact with the species, and to keep a distance of about 7 meters between them and the gorillas in order to avoid any harm among others, then they are always put in groups with a maximum number of 8 people per group. More so, gorilla trekking activities always go for about 2-6 hours depending in where the species are located and later individuals are being given about 1 hour to spend with the gorillas. In addition, participating in Mountain gorilla trekking activities within Virunga national park will require tourists to purchase a gorilla trekking permit, which is charged at a cost of about 400 USD per person for the foreigners and around 150 USD for the Congolese citizens per person.
Chimpanzee trekking.
Chimpanzee trekking is ranked to be the second activity mainly done in this park because Virunga national park is also a home to large numbers of primate species such as; Chimpanzees which are easily spotted within the thick forests which act as their natural habitats. In addition, the chimpanzee trekking activities are best done within the morning hours when tourists can be able to sight see many of them within their nests and get to observe their characters and behaviours such as; how they feed their young ones, watch them while they collect fruits and many others. More so, tourists who are interested in participating in chimpanzee trekking activities are always grouped in groups with a maximum number of four people and they are all required to always represent their chimpanzee trekking permits before the trekking.
Bird watching.
Virunga national park is also a good destination for bird watching activities and tourists who happen to be bird lovers can always embark on bird watching activities which are best done in the morning at 5:00am whereby as they hike through the forested areas in the park, they can always be able to sight see at very many beautiful bird species like; yellow-billed barbet, pin tailed Whydah, the grey throated barbet, Madagascar bee-eater, double-toothed barbet, white necked raven, black kite, double collared sunbird, blue headed coucal, olive pigeon, stray seedeater, Rwenzori batis, alpine chat, regal sunbird, bronze sunbird, olive woodpecker, dusky turtle dove, regal sunbird, paradise fly catcher, and many others.
Apart from the above mentioned activities, there are so many activities touring around Virunga national park can embark on and these include; guided nature walks where they are always accompanied with park guides, visiting the Senkwekwe orphanage centre which is located in Rumangabo near the park headquarters and it is a home to 4 gorilla families such as; Ndeze, Ndakasi, Maisha, Matabishi among others, landscape viewing whereby they explore through the beautiful landscapes that are covered by montane and afro alpine forests that make it a perfect destination for photography and landscape viewing.
Contact our trusted tour operators for more information and inquires about what activities are best done in this national park and book with our tours and travel companies such as; Achieve Global safaris who offer the best tour packages while on a safari in Virunga National park in DRC.
