Virunga National Park
Virunga National Park is Africa’s oldest national parks and the home to the endangered primate species the golden monkeys and the mountain gorillas which can be seen during the different activities in the park. The park is also home to the world’s largest lava lake at the summit of Mount Nyiragongo. During your Congo tour, you will have an amazing time in Virunga national park with numerous activities that can be carried out for you to see a number of attractions while you visit Congo.
Attractions in virunga national park
Primate species
There are a number of primate species that can be seen within the park which will ensure that you have an amazing time while in the park. It should be noted that Virunga national park is a home to two of the endangered primate species the golden monkeys and the mountain gorillas that can be seen during gorilla trekking where you will have to hike mount Mikeno in order to access the Congo Gorilla families, with the activity in the park, tourists will get to spend an hour with the gorillas during gorilla trekking in virunga national park observing the behaviour of the primates, observing their feeding patterns, grooming patterns, how they co-exist with one another among other interesting features in the park.
Golden monkey trekking, on the other hand, is an active activity that involves tourists hiking mount Mikeno as they follow the endangered primate species that are usually seen swinging from the different tree branches playfully as they eat while in the park. In the park, tourists will come across a number of chimpanzees that can be seen during chimpanzee trekking in virunga national park and chimpanzee habituation in the park.
Mount Nyiragongo
Mount Nyiragongo is one of the most active volcanoes in the world where one can find the world’s largest lava lake on the summit of mount Nyiragongo. The mountain has attracted many travellers to access the park because of the rewarding attractions that can be seen within the park, a number of travels participate in the Mount Nyiragongo hike in order to see the lava lake at the summit of the mountain.
When you participate in the hike you will have rewarding experiences as you get to the summit because you will come across a number of bird species like the blue turaco, Ross’s turaco, coqui Francolin, long-tailed cisticola, bubbling cisticola, Miombo wren warbler, Chubb’s cisticola mammal species like the black-fronted duiker, bushbuck among other interesting attractions within virunga national park and when you get to the summit you will have the most memorable Congo safaris. You will have a closer look at the lake from a safe viewing point where you will see lava boiling underneath the earth’s crust and also hear rumbling and earthquakes within the earth’s crust which is intense but exhilarating at the same time.
The park is also a home to a number of other virunga mountains in the park like mount Mikeno where gorilla trekking is carried out with a number of Congo gorilla families can be seen, there are a number of habituated chimpanzee troops and those in the habituation process that tourists and by this tourists can carry out chimpanzee trekking and habituation to have amazing experiences within the park.
During the activities, you will learn how the primates carry out their daily activities in the wild, their feeding patterns, their grooming patterns; you will also observe the chimpanzees being trained how they get accustomed to human presence which is an interesting activity in virunga national park. You can also see a number of other primate species in the park like the vervet monkey, the Mona monkey, the dent’s monkey, the black and white colobus monkey among other primate species within the park.
Mammal species
There are a number of mammal species that can be seen in virunga national park during the different activities that can be carried out. Virunga national park is a home to 218 mammal species which is quite an impressive number because you will get to see a number over 40 mammal species daily in the park as you participate in a number of activities for instance during the guided nature walks within the park among the different mammals that can be seen include; Uganda Kob, the African buffaloes, the elephants, the lions, hippopotamus, leopard, the endangered okapi, bongo, warthog, and yellow-backed duiker and many more for amazing Congo safaris.
Bird species
Virunga National Park is a home to over 400 bird species making the park a birder’s paradise where you will get to see over 100 bird species daily that can be seen during your birding expedition in virunga national park, among the different bird species that can be seen include the water birds like the herons, ibisis, egrets, shoebills, ospreys, gulls, francolins, warblers, weavers, pelicans near the swamps and other water sources in the park and other bird species include; shrike flycatcher, brown crowned tchagra, hairy breasted barbet, red-faced crimson, black bee eater, green breated pitta, yellow billed barbet, white-bellied crested flycatcher, tinker bird, white thighed hornbill, western nicator, bar-tailed trogon, white spotted flufftail which will make your Congo safaris quite memorable.
