Virunga National Park
Virunga national park has won its position of being the most bio diverse area on the African continent. As if that is not enough, the park is renowned for its population of the critically endangered species of gorillas, that is, the mountain gorillas. the park also has the low land gorillas. Virunga national park is also a recognized UNESCO world heritage site located in eastern democratic republic of Congo. The park is located in the Albertine region and probably this must be the reason as to why the park has a lot of animal species similar to those in Uganda such as birds.
Virunga national park is a home for quite a range of wildlife like the bird species, and mammals such as monkeys, chimpanzees, giraffes, buffaloes and a lot of other life forms. Besides the reason for the conservation of the mountain gorillas, virunga national park is also a safe haven for the indigenous fruit gathering community if the twa people who live deep in the Congo forest of virunga. The reason for the diversity of nature in virunga national park is relatively connected to the wide range of ecosystems that make up the national park, for example, the mountains, volcanic cones, the crater region, the rift valley escarpments, rain forests, swamps, grassland, and wet lands among others.
Virunga national park is located on the park ranges which are also bordering Uganda and Rwanda where Bwindi Impenetrable and Volcanoes National Park are located respectively. the park sits on altitude of about 680m above sea level in the low land; Semliki river valley, the park elevates to 5109m in the highlands. The high altitude in Virunga ranges is the reason for the cold weather which is also adoptable for the mountain gorillas. Virunga extends from the south to the Rwenzori mountain ranges in the north. The altitude of the park is also responsible for the growth mountain rain forest and the stretches of savannah in the low land; the west African rainforests join with savannah of east Africa, about 300 km along the Albertine rift valley, which splits Africa into two from the north to the south.
Brief about virunga national park
The park was established in 1925, it is also the first protected areas in Africa with the strongest resilience abilities. Despite the political struggles in Congo that have seriously affected the park, it has managed to come back to life many more times. For example, Virunga was closed in 2018 due to the political unrest in the democratic republic of Congo, however, it was recently reopened round March in 2019, and the situation is good and favorable for all tourist activity. The park was gazetted to create a sanctuary for the endangered mountain gorillas; which re also found in Rwanda and Uganda.
The park deteriorated after the wars that led to Congo’s independence of 1960, and when president mobutu, in the 1970s, he revamped the conservation of nature in the area, this is the time when the national park got its current name, Virunga. The mountain gorillas are a major attraction in Virunga; the gorilla trekkers love it in Virunga national park since the cost of the trekking permits are low. Some parts of Virunga national park are virgin and undiscovered; this is due to the low visitor counts to the national park for a long time.
Wildlife of Virunga national park
The national park was recorded to have about 218 mammal species in 2012 wildlife census, plus other species like primates which add up to over 22 , 706 bird species, 109 reptiles and 65 amphibian species among others. In the grassland areas you get an opportunity to sightings of elephants, buffaloes, lions, water bucks, blue duikers, bush bucks, giant forest hogs, rare groundhogs, topis, oribis among others. And in the highland areas, you stand higher chances to see the red tailed monkeys, de brazza’s monkeys, the white and black monkeys, golden monkeys and the olive baboons.
The wildlife in virunga national park supports a number of visitor activities like game drives, nature walks, hiking into the forested mountains, birding, chimpanzee habituation, landscape viewing, and most interesting is gorilla trekking, among others. The forest is a true jungle of Africa with tweets of the various bird species and sounds of the other inhabitants of Virunga park combine to make the real rhythm of the African jungle.
Climate of Virunga national park
The park experiences both the tropical and the equatorial climate all through the year, it is crossed by the major latitude equator and this is the reason for the warm weather in the lowlands of Virunga national park; the lowlands are quite warm and the highlands are chilly all through the year. The park receives rainfall throughout the year with an average of 190mm annually; this happens in the wet season, March to May and September to December.
Virunga also experiences moderate temperatures which vary between 23 degrees Celsius to 28 degrees Celsius in down in the low land, and, 16 degrees Celsius to 22 degrees Celsius in the high land areas. The dry season is experienced in January to early February and July to October. The days are hot in Virunga national park, but just like any other area in Africa, the temperatures drastically drop at night.
Getting there
The park is located in eastern congo, it is such a challenging destination to reach by road, unless you reach to the national park from goma town which is 32km closest. Alternatively, you can fly to Kigali and from there, you can use the road through gisenyi and via goma in the democratic republic of congo, however, the road is not in a good condition even though it is passable by a 4WD tour vehicle. To note, it is a 2 hours’ drive from goma to reach Virunga national park visitor center at bukima.
On the other hand, if you are from Uganda, you can cross bunagana border in kisoro town which is an hour’s drive away to Bukima; it is the starting point for mountain gorilla trekking in Virunga. You can also reach congo by plane through the Ethiopian airways, it operates single flights to goma town in the democratic republic of congo. From the airport in goma, the local tour operator arranges for you a private tour vehicle to take you to bukima Virunga national park headquarters.
The park is currently very safe and free of rebels as the earlier allegations has been saying, therefore, you can visit the park any time of the year and enjoy the wonders of the true African jungle and also enjoy trekking the mountain gorillas at a cheaper cost in a free (uncongested) natural setting.
