Democratic Republic of Congo

One of my most memorable African experiences is, hands down, the time I spend with Gorillas. Words can't describe the feelings you get when you come up and close with these gentle giants, with whom we share 98% of our D.N.A.

The night before our trek, we stayed at the Mikeno Lodge, situated alongside Virunga National Park's ranger headquarters – Africa's oldest Park. The ideal base for discovering this World Heritage Site's incredible biodiversity. The lodge's 12 bungalows offer luxury accommodation built of lava stone, and it's close to an active, bubbling volcano, Mahogany, and thatch. It's an impressively stylish escape in the heart of untouched Africa.

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Quick Facts:

www.virunga.org is a strategic partner to the 7SummitsAfrica Expedition. We were proud to be associated with a park that has been through so much over the years and defied all odds to still not just exists but also to be custodians of a quarter of the World's endangered mountain gorillas.

Virunga and their team conserve the most dangerous national park on the planet.

Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and borders Uganda and Rwanda. Virunga is Africa's oldest national Park, established in 1925, and is also the most biologically diverse protected area on the African continent. The Park is 7800 square kilometers (3000 square miles) in size and includes habitats like forests, savannas, lava plains, swamps, erosion valleys, active volcanoes, and the peaks of the Rwenzori mountains, also referred to as the "mountains of the moon."

Virunga is home to about a quarter of the World's critically endangered mountain gorillas. The Park's two other Great Ape species, eastern lowland (Grauer's) gorillas and chimpanzees, make Virunga the only park in the World to protect the habitat of three taxa of Great Apes. The Okapi, an endangered species that resembles a zebra but is more closely related to the giraffe, is the other main attraction to the area. Large colonies of hippopotami, forest and savanna elephants, lions, and numerous rare bird species are also be found in the Park.

Virunga national park is in charge of protecting the Congo Basin's forests that contain the most significant number of mammals, primates, birds, amphibians, fish, and swallowtail butterflies in Africa, more than a thousand species of birds. The Congo Basin is the only place to shelter all three subspecies of gorilla: the western lowland gorilla, the endemic eastern lowland gorilla, and the endangered mountain gorilla.

Very few tourists come to Congo. When tourists come to Congo, they typically obtain a visa to see the mountain gorillas or hike the Nyiragongo Volcano.

To be completely clear, the situation in Congo always changes. It could be safe for one month or even one year, but tensions are constant and could quickly become a dangerous situation. When we were there in 2017, there were no conflicts at the time. However, shortly after ( the following weekend, there have been attacks, and safety is becoming an issue again. Please check with your government as to the latest situation in Congo. Contacting the Virunga National Park is also a good idea to find out if they are doing tours and to ask about the safety when you expect to visit.

Despite all the instabilities, fighting, and difficulties in conservation, the Virunga National Park is still considered and African gem and a unique travel destination, as it’s one of the oldest parks in Africa with the highest rte of biodiversity in the world! Not to mention it’s home to one of the most active volcanoes in the world, Nyamuragira and Nyiragongo, which an be climbed as separate activity while in the DRC.

Mountain Gorilla Treks

Virunga N.P. in Congo has nine families consisting of 153 mountain gorillas (and growing) in the wild. Congo is the cheapest place to go on a gorilla trek. There are two rainy seasons, between March through May as well as October and November. It is best to go on a gorilla trek for the rest of the year during the dry seasons. Unlike tours in Uganda and Rwanda, gorilla trekking in Congo does not book up. It is easy to get permits as well as setting up last-minute trips. While we were in Goma, it was possible to set up a trek for the following day. Because of the low tourism to Congo, there are minimal crowds while trekking. The time on the trek itself depends on where the gorillas are. Trackers will be ahead of the group looking for the gorillas. It could take under one hour or several hours to get to the gorillas. Once the group is with the gorillas, one hour is spent on this incredible experience. The cost for a gorilla trek in Virunga N.P. is $400 USD.

Trekking through the Virunga jungle dislike nothing else. It is thick, trails are non-existent, and sometimes, the scrub beneath is so dense that you aren’t even touching the ground anymore, you could literally be a meter off the ground below, suspended by incredible plant life. I never forget the moment, after hours of trekking through luscious , green farmlands, torrential rains coming down on us and then arriving at the top of the hill, our guid points in one direction. I look over, and bam- there is a silverback gorilla! I am amazed, yet a bit nervous at how close I am. Observing this massive animal in his daily routine, surfing his face with leaf after leaf- enthralls me. The ranger pulls out a machete and hacks away at a bush uncovering a mother and baby gorilla. A huge smile immediately covers my face. I stand completely still and turn my head back to the Silverback. I hope his isn’t upset that I’m so close to his family, but the Silverback is just chilling, making me realize I don’t have to be as nervous.Instead, I need to enjoy this unique wild animal experience.

Gorilla trekking is the real deal, and you need to be prepared for the day, and you need to pack certain things as it can last for 1 hour or 8 hours. You also want to wear the right clothes as trekking through the jungle can be unforgiving during a storm.

I hiked with the mountain gorillas in Rwanda a few years back. I have fond memories of that experience, but I must say that the Congo is something else. It is much more of a rustic and "authentic" African experience if you want to call it that. No one visits the D.R.C., which is a huge shame really because they could use the tourism dollars, and the experience is unlike anything else. Because of this, our team was the only one on this day. That means the time we had with the gorillas was all to ourselves—no need to worry about other obnoxious tourists with their cameras chasing away the gorillas.

It was like a dream from my childhood, many many years back, I had this vision following in the footstep of Livingston exploring Africa on foot.

I think I was eight or nine years old and pretending to be backpacking in Africa. A wooden stick was my machete, clearing the bush for me. Fifty years later, this play became a reality, and I trekked in Virunga National Park's thick bush. It has been raining for days, and that day was no different. We had a torrential downpour for hours, and we all were soaking wet as we continue up the mountain in hopes of seeing the Gorillas. I had tears to my eyes as I worked my way through the thick shrubs with the ranger upfront cutting it with his machete, just as imagined many years back as a child. Dreams do come true, I knew at that moment, and it made me so extraordinaire happy that I lived out my childhood dream.

After about 5 hours, the rain stopped, the sun was out as we stopped at a clearing, and here they were..... our Gorilla family.

I am so happy I visit the Congo, I participated in two unique travel experiences. ( Seriously, it is hard for me to think of a better experience). I got to met Silverback gorillas in their natural habitat and hike to the largest lava lake in the world!

No matter how much you prep for your mountain gorilla trekking experience, nothing can prepare you for the moment when you come face to face with these incredible creatures.

Gorilla Trekking in Virunga National Park

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