Also referred to as Parc National des Virungas, this is the first place where gorilla tourism was started. Find information on gorilla tourism in the park, location – directions/map, history, weather conditions and more.
Established in 1925, Virunga national park is the Africa’s first national park. The national park stretches from the Virunga Mountains in the south, the Ruwenzori mountains in the north, the volcanoes national park in the eastern part of the Democratic republic of Congo and Queen Elizabeth national park in Uganda.
The national park covers a land area of 7,800-square-kilometre (3,000 sq. mi) and is a UNESCO designated world heritage site since 1979 when poaching and Congo civil wars had become serious threats to the wild life in the national park and was founded primarily to protect the mountain gorillas living in the forests of the Virunga Massif that were controlled by the Belgian Congo. Later, Virunga was expanded north to include the Rwindi Plains, Lake Edward, and the Rwenzori Mountains.
Rules and Regulations for gorilla trekking
Like any other park, the Virunga National Park has a number of strict rules and regulations that tourists are meant to be followed by visitors during their trek. They range from group size, tracking groups per day and the time a client is allowed to be with the mountain gorilla. The set rules and regulations are not necessarily to enhance the visitor experiences alone but also to protect the lives of the rare mountain gorillas given the fact that they are susceptible to human diseases.
For mountain gorilla tours, group size, only 8 (eight) people are permitted to track the mountain gorilla family each day. The restricted gorilla trekking number is intended to minimize the spread of diseases from humans to the wild mountain gorillas.
For the age, the park management of Virunga National Park allows only persons above 15 years to track the mountain gorillas
The time for gorilla trekking in Congo starts between 8:00am and 7:00pm local time and visitors spend only 1 (one) hour with the giant apes.
Other “do’s” and “don’ts” for mountain gorilla trekking in the Virunga National Park include;
Protecting the rare mountain gorillas is the first priority which mans that if a visitor has any kind of illnesses he or she won’t be allowed to go for mountain gorilla trekking.
Your health is also very important to life of mountain gorillas, in case of cough or sneezing; a person is advised to turn his or her face away or cover the nose and mouth to assist minimize transmission of bacteria to the mountain gorillas. Visitors should ensure they keep the distance of between 7 meters while encountering the mountain gorillas face to face.
You are also required to behave well in the gorilla habitat by maintaining silence, avoid pointing or using flash lights when taking photos of the mountain gorillas, otherwise they can become irritated. But you need a camera without flash light!
Be prepared for the trek by ensuring that you have a bottle of water, water proof and warm gears for the cool weather conditions, light hiking shoes, hats, walking stick, long sleeved shirts or T-shirts, shocks and shocks should be tucked in. Also you are not supposed to smoke during the trek; visitors are required to wash their hands before going for the trek; don’t touch the mountain gorillas, avoid littering around the forest and ensure you keep the trash to yourself then drop it to dust bins around the station; keep calm and avoid direct contact in case the mountain gorilla is irritated.
Before traveling to DRC, visitors are required to get a yellow fever injection and a client will be requested to present a proof at entry point. Others include hepatitis A, typhoid, meningitis and rabies injections and anti malarial injections are also necessary.
When should you visit the park?
For those interested in mountain gorilla experience in Virunga, it is good to first understand the varied seasons that are realized in the park. The Virunga national park experiences two wet seasons. The short rain season begins from October to November and the longer rains are experienced in the month of March to May. During the rainy season, the park experiences its low season and this is characterized by few tourists. The low season doesn’t mean that gorilla tracking is not taking place in the Virunga national park, tourists can and have always traveled during this season to track mountain gorillas.
The disadvantage with rainy season is that the gorilla habitat and terrain tend to be muddy and gorilla trekking some times becomes hard and yet it is also the only period that plenty of food is available for the gorillas. Since they are herbivorous animals, tracking them becomes simpler in the lower base of the Virunga national park.It is also important for you to note that the rainy season doesn’t mean that there is absolutely no sun shine in gorilla habitat. Just after the rain showers in the jungles of Virunga national park, the sun can still come out and gorilla tracking can continue.
Many travelers prefer to visit the park from the months of June to September to February. It is from these months that the park experiences low rainfall amount in the gorilla habitat and steep slopes remain a bit dry and trackers as well as trekkers can easily hike to gorilla groups. It is also in the month of December that the Virunga national park experiences its peak season and it is described as one of the busiest months through out the year. With this information, you realize that Virunga, DRC also experiences two dry seasons that are very important when it comes to gorilla trekking safaris. This falls in the month of January and February; from June to September. During these months, the jungles at the Virunga are clear and visitors have an upper hand to enjoy and take several pictures of not just the mountain gorillas but also the spectacular landscape views of the park.
To ensure that you are not affected by this kind of seasonality, visitors need to pack appropriate items to suit the weather conditions of the place. Around the equatorial/tropical areas, visitors should have light clothing mostly depicting the natural vegetation, sweaters, long sleeved shirts or T-shirts, rain jackets, hiking shoes, hiking stick, hat, gardening gloves and others.In conclusion, the Virunga National Park can be visited through out the year for gorilla trekking. It is hard to predict the seasonality of the park since they keep fluctuating, even what might be considered a dry spell might also experience some bit of rain showers given the nature of gorilla habitat. Note that, what might seem the best time to one person can turn to be the worst time to others! Notably, the best time for you to visit the park can be around the dry season especially in the month of June to September up to February.