Virunga National park is found in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a central African nation that has recently become stable after decades of civil wars which have faded away.
Virunga National Park is a 7800 square kilometer World Heritage Site that lies on the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the is the second oldest national park in the world, behind only Yellowstone, and the oldest in Africa. It is the most diverse national park on the African continent that boasts savannas, lava plains, swamps, erosion valleys, forests, active volcanoes and the ice fields of the Rwenzori Mountains. Among Virunga’s numerous species of wildlife, the park is home to approximately 200 of the world’s critically endangered mountain gorillas that live on the slopes of the Virunga volcano ranger which includes active Nyiragongo volcano and the largest lava lake in the world.
Declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, Virunga National Park is one of the best gorilla trekking destinations besides Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Volcanoes National park because of its low trekking costs and less congestion in it. Other attractions in the park are mammal species which are about 218 in number, 22 primate species, over 706 bird species, 109 reptiles, 264 tree species, over 65 amphibian species and others. Examples of the notable mammals are waterbucks, lions, buffalos, warthogs, bay duikers, blue duikers, yellow backed duiker, topis, kobs, elephants, hippos, leopards and others. Other primates to be encountered during mountain gorilla trekking include blue monkeys, golden monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, central African red colobus mantled guereza, black and white colobus monkeys, olive baboons and others.
Gorilla trekking in Virunga mountains
Gorilla trekking involves hiking through the thick tropical rainforests of the African continent in search of the mountain gorillas from their habitats. In Africa, this experience is what mostly attracts the travelers from different continents so as to enjoy the presence of the endangered giant apes and also learn more about their ways of living. Mountain gorillas can be trekked in only destinations and in three countries in Africa – Uganda in Bwindi Impenetrable National park and Mgahinga gorilla National park, Rwanda in Volcanoes National Park and Democratic Republic of Congo in Virunga National Park.
Gorilla trekking in the Democratic republic of Congo will lead the travelers into the rainforests, montane forests and the alpine vegetation of Virunga National Park so as to search for the endangered mountain gorillas from their habitats. Virunga National park habituates six families of mountain gorillas which are open for tourism purposes. Among these families, Kabirizi family is the most popular to the trekkers. This family has the largest members approaching to about three dozen members. This big number of members comes due to the fact that Kabirizi is a prominent polygamist silverback among all other members. During this interesting experience, the trekker will be allowed to spend some good time (about an hour) with the mountain gorillas after allocating them in their habitats.
Habituated Gorilla Families in Virunga National Park
If Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is your dream gorilla destination then Virunga National Park should be a must for you to visit. About 8 gorilla families have been habituated for visitors to trek every day so as to strike their imaginations with these great apes while they are still in their natural habitat. Note that each of the gorilla families’ dynamics and composition in Virunga National Park keep changing from time to time.
Kabirizi family
Kabirizi family was once known as Ndungutse family and this derived its name from the silverback gorilla Ndungutse-the humble and giant gorilla leader at a time. This silverback was killed around 1997 after he was caught up in crossfire between the DRC army and rebel groups in the Bukima patrol post. Kabirizi is a name derived from the ICCN Director who passed on in traffic accidents in the late 1990s. This family is recently under the control of Kabirizi silverback. The silverback is however facing severe completion from the young silverback Masibo. The family comprises of about 19 individuals.
Munyanga family
This group can be trekked around the Bukima area of Virunga National Park. The habituation of this family began in 2008 and it derived its name from then silverback-Munyaga. The family is famous for an adult female Bilali that gave birth to twins after joining from Rugendo family. Unfortunately, the twins passed on at their infant stages. The leadership of the family was then transferred from Munyaga silverback to Mawazo silverback. Currently, Gasore is the recent leader of the family. The family is famous for a bold headed silverback Kadogo. This group consists of seven members.
Nyakamwe family
Nyakamwe family is one of the newly habituated gorilla families in the Virunga National Park. This group was habituated in the same period with Bageni the biggest families in the Virunga National Park. It features about 11 individuals. It derived its name from Nyakamwe silverback.
Bageni family
Bageni family features as the biggest gorilla group in the Virunga National Park. It comprises of 26 individuals and headed by Bageni silverback. However, there are struggles for leadership in the family and higher chances are that the family will break off into 2 or even 3. There are two other silverbacks (Kanamaharagi and Kitagenda) who are currently struggling for leadership.
Rugendo family
This features as one of the oldest and the most famous family in the Virunga National Park. It was habituated in 1989. This family was headed by the Rugendo silverback a father to Humba and recently headed by Bukima silverback. However, this family has undergone through various changes since its habituation. Around 1997, Rugendo family featured about 18 members with 2 (two) silverbacks-Rugendo and his son Humba. Humba fought his father in 1998 leading to creation of a new family with 10 members. Rugendo remained with only eight members and currently, it has only 9 members.
Mapuwa family
This family is situated in Jomba next to Bunagana-DR Congo Uganda border area. It was previously headed by Mapuwa silverback where the group derived its name. The silverback grabbed and safeguarded his group member by all means via violent struggles. He was a son to Rugendo the recent leader of the Rugendo family. He decided to leave his father’s family in 1998 and began his own group. By the time he left, he went with two adult females-Jicho and Mafaze. Due to endless fights, Mapuwa silverback has managed to grab more individuals from rest of the families. Pilipili is one of the strongest and very popular silverback in the Virunga National Park was stripped of compared to the rest of his of his member groups in 2002 and this left him as alone silverback. Besides grabbing member groups, there has been an increase in birth rates in the group with about 22 individuals that thrive within the family. Recently, Mvuyekure silverback features as a dominant silverback in the family.
Lulengo family
This family thrives within the Jomba area of the Virunga National Park just next to Bunagana-the Congo Uganda border area. Lulengo family was previously known as Musekura family. The name later turned to Lulengo a name of the dominant silverback and in commemoration of the Technical Director of Virunga National Park who was murdered by the land mine. Lulengo silverback was born and was member of Rugabo family, the first habituated mountain gorilla family the Mikeno area. At that time, Rugabo silverback was a leader of Rugabo family. Rugabo was the father to Lulengo silverback who was murdered by poachers during the Great Lakes Refugees Crisis. After passing away Lulengo group remained in the hands of the black back Lulengo the current silverback and leader of the family. The group features about 9 individuals.
Other activities in the park
Besides gorilla trekking, travelers can also take part in different activities including chimpanzee tracking, nature walks, Nyiragongo hikes and others.
Chimpanzee trekking
This is the second most done activity in Virunga National Park besides gorilla trekking. The experience involves walking and hiking through the rainforests and vegetation of the park in search of the chimpanzee families that are used to human presence. These adventurous tourists are given an hour to interact with the chimpanzees.
Also, travelers are allowed to have chimpanzee habituation experience if they need to. The activity gives the travelers a whole day interaction with the chimpanzees in their nests. This full day gives the travelers a chance to learn more and observe the aspects of the chimpanzees like the feeding ways, mating ways, how they defend themselves and others.
Nature walks
Enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the scenery of Virunga National park. The park is made up of the dense vegetation, montane forests and also alpine rainforests. The nature walks in the park involve moving through the trails of the park and during these walks, view different species like trees, butterflies, birds, primates and also some mammals. The walks also introduce the traveler to other amazing features in the park including the different volcanoes and others.
Bird watching
Virunga National Park records over 706 bird species including the migratory from the rift Albertine and the residential birds. A number of these birds can be sighted during the bird watching expeditions and nature walks. Among these birds include the Ruwenzori turaco, grey throated barbet, Madagascar bee-eater, African fish eagle, Narrow – tailed starling and others.
Nyiragongo hike
Test your sense of bravery by taking part in the adventurous experience of hiking the Nyiragongo active volcano. On this volcano, eruption takes place on the lave lake throughout the year. Hiking to the top of this volcano provides a great opportunity to the travelers to view the geographical forces as the boiling molten lava gush out of the earth’s crust.