Activities in Virunga National Park

Activities in Virunga National Park

Activities in Virunga National Park are the different ventures in which travelers can engage so that they can enjoy their Congo safaris. Virunga national park is known for housing two of the endangered primate species including the mountain gorillas and the golden monkeys that can be seen when they participate i the rewarding activities in virunga national park. You will get to see a number of other attractions in the park as a number of chimpanzee troops, a number of bird species like Doherty’s Bush-shrikes, Chubb’s Cisticola, African Goshawk, African Blue Flycatcher, animal species like; hippos,  elephants, buffalos, okapi, bushbucks among other animals attractions which will make your Congo safaris quite memorable.

CHIMPANZEE TREKKING

Chimpanzee trekking is one of the rewarding activities in virunga national park that tourists can participate in for memorable experiences during your Congo safaris. In the park, there are a number of habituated chimpanzee troops that tourists can visit in the park that can be found in the forest along the lower slopes of Mount Mikeno in the park. 

Chimpanzee trekking in the park involves tourists hiking through the forests in order to get to the habituated troops, you will have the chance to spend time with the chimpanzee troops as you spend one hour with the chimpanzees getting to know their character in the wild as they try to carry out their daily activities, you will find out their feeding patterns how they feed on fruits and edible leaves, flowers small insects and so on, you will also find out how the playful primates co-exist with one another like their grooming patterns which is usually done by the adult females to the infants among other interesting features of the chimpanzees and at the end of your chimpanzee experience in Virunga national park, you will be able to take pictures of the primates for a rewarding experience in the park.

 CHIMPANZEE HABITUATION

Another activity in virunga national park is Chimpanzee habituation where tourists will get the opportunity to participate in the activity of training the chimpanzees to get used to human presence during chimpanzee trekking in virunga national park. 

The activity involves tourists accompanying a team of researchers to the different chimpanzee troops in the park that are under the habituation process. The activity takes a whole day for tourists which give you the opportunity to spend more time with the chimpanzees as compared to chimpanzee trekking which takes only one hour and the interesting fact about chimpanzee habituation is the fact that tourists don’t just observe the primates but they take part in the habituation process which is such a rewarding activity in virunga national park making your Congo safaris memorable.

GORILLA TREKKING

Gorilla trekking in Virunga national park is another interesting activity that tourists can participate in during their Congo safaris for an amazing time. It should be noted that virunga national park is one of the four National Parks that the endangered mountain gorillas in Africa can be found in their natural habitats. There are different habituated Congo gorilla families in the park that tourists can visit along the slopes of Mount Mikeno to understand more are about the gorillas as. 

The activity involves tourists spending one hour with the gorilla families where you will get to know more about the different gorilla families and their behavior in the park and among the different features of the gorillas you will get to find outs the fact that an adult male usually the silverback is the head of a particular gorilla group and he only has the right to mate with the adult females of the group, you will also get to see their feeding patterns where you will also see them how they eat bamboo shoots, edible leaves, fruits, small insects like caterpillars termites, you will see their grooming patterns among other interesting features of the mountain gorillas.

VISITING THE SENKWENKWE GORILLA ORPHANAGE

During your gorilla experience in virunga national park, you will visit the Senkwenkwe gorilla orphanage, a facility in virunga national park which was established to provide refugee to orphaned gorillas whose parents were victims of poaching. It should be noted that all the gorillas in the orphanage lost their parents or their entire families through poaching which was quite a devastating period in their lives and by this, a group of park rangers with the help of the park administration, they established the orphanage to give the orphans a second chance to life which can be seen when you visit the Senkwenkwe gorilla orphanage as an amazing activity in virunga national park. 

At the gorilla orphanage, you will see the primates playing in the fenced area, you will also get the chance to feed a number of infants which is quite thrilling, you can also volunteer to clean the eating area of the orphanage, their sleeping dormitories among other activities in the orphanage which will make your Congo safaris quite memorable as you see hope in the eyes of the gorillas that are given a second chance to live and important is the fact that when the gorillas are emotionally and physically to go back to the wild, they are released back in the wild.

Birding

Birding is one of the rewarding activities in Virunga National park where tourists will get the chance to see over 200 bird species out of the 700 bird species during their activity in the park. In virunga national park there are a number of water bodies, migratory birds that can be seen along the different water sources and you will also get the chance to see a number of bird species like the Ruwenzori turaco, grey throated barbet, narrow tailed sterling Doherty’s Bush-shrikes, Chubb’s Cisticola, African Goshawk, African Blue Flycatcher and Baglafetcht weaver, handsome Francolin, Dusky turtle love, Ruwenzori turaco, Ruwenzori nightjar, the dusky crimson wing African fish Eagle among other bird species.

Golden Monkey Trekking

Virunga national park is among the national parks within the virunga massif where you can find the world’s remaining endangered golden monkeys. Golden monkey trekking involves hiking mount Mikeno to access the habituated troops where you will get to spend one hour with the golden monkeys to understand their behaviour in the park, you will also get to also take a picture of the golden monkeys which will ensure that you will have an amazing time in the park.

Nature walks 

This is one of the most interesting activities in Virunga National Park. Nature walks will ensure that you have memorable and relaxing activities in the park where tourists will get to walk around the park accompanied by an armed ranger to protect you from vicious animal attacks in the park and a guide who will lead you through the safe activity in the park where you see a number of attractions in the park. You will also get the chance to see a number of attractions like animal species like hippos, elephants, buffalos and many more along with the water bodies in the park the water bodies bird species, primates like the golden monkeys, gorillas and the chimpanzees among other attractions in the park.

Mount Nyiragongo Hiking

Another of the activities in virunga national park that should not be missed out on is Mount Nyiragongo hike which will offer rewarding experiences in the park.

Mount Nyiragongo is one of the most active mountains in the world where tourists hiking the mountain they will get to see the world’s largest lava lake in the park where you will see lava boiling underneath the earth’s crust, you will also get to hear earthquakes underneath the earth’s crust.