Mountain Gorillas in Virunga
Mountain Gorillas in Virunga
Mountain Gorillas in Virunga: This is one of the most sought after park in Eastern Africa. This is because it is one of the few homes to the endangered mountain gorillas. There about just 900 left. With others in Bwindi and Mgahinga in Uganda, Volcanoes national park in Rwanda and Virunga.
This national park is named after the Virunga Mountains, a chain of 8 volcanoes. Two of these are active and they are found in this national park.
This park is the oldest park in Africa and the second oldest in the world. It was gazette in 1925 with an aim to protect the gorillas together with other animals that inhabited this park.
The gorillas are of course the biggest pride of this park since they are rare animals and only a few of them left.
This park has few people that visit it just like Mgahinga and so it makes it less crowded and easy to see the gorillas. The environment is also pure since it is less disturbed.
The political climate of this area has been unstable and this has made the park lag behind it counterparts like Bwindi and Volcanoes in Rwanda. But since 2012, the place has been secure and the park has picked up and a lot of gorilla excursions are going on.
A gorilla permit in the Virunga coat about USD400 compared to the USD600 in Uganda and USD1500 in Rwanda. This makes it a cheaper option given the fact that there also few people that come here hence a very good adventure.
Kabirizi family, was the first of the habituated families to be trained with 34 members in the Bukima sector of the national park.
The other families include Humba family led by Humba silver back, Rugendo family led by Rugendo silverback, Mapuwa family led by Mapuwa silver back, Lulengo family headed by Lulengo as a dominant silver back and finally Munyanga family which was open to trekkers in 2008.
Just like all the other areas of gorilla tracking, only 8 people are allowed to track a group per day and will have one hour with the gorillas.
It is important to mind about your safety and therefore follow the recommendation of the ranger guide. Gorillas are strongly affected by human diseases and therefore safety measure should be followed.
