First some info and history about Virunga as well as a couple links to articles worth reading.
The write up below is copied from the official Virunga National Park website.
(Link Below)
"Throughout its history, Virunga has been deeply affected by the country’s political climate. The park has endured many periods of armed conflict. The deep commitment of Virunga’s rangers, key politicians, conservationists, and concerned individuals around the world have enabled the park to survive.
The park was founded in 1925 by King Albert I of Belgium and was originally given his namesake, Albert National Park. Parc Albert was the first national park to be established on the continent of Africa, largely from the tireless lobbying of an American biologist, Carl Akely, who committed his life to the protection of Virunga’s Landscapes, and who subsequently died and was burried in the Park. It was founded primarily to protect the mountain gorillas living in the forests of the Virunga Massif. Parc Albert was later expanded northward to include the Rwindi plains, Lake Edward and the Rwenzori “Mountains of the Moon”. The park was renamed Virunga National Park in 1969.
Over the past 20 years, Virunga’s rangers have endured an almost uninterrupted series of challenges. In 1994, the Rwandan genocide unleashed a flood of more than one million refugees who placed tremendous pressure on the park forests and wildlife. In 2007, members of an illegal charcoal mafia murdered a family of mountain gorillas. The event was arguably the park’s darkest hour in over a decade. Their motivation was simple: kill the mountain gorillas and there will no longer be a reason to protect the park. By the end of the year, nine critically endangered mountain gorillas had been murdered.
After the 2007 gorilla killings, the park embarked on a comprehensive reform programme, involving the restructuring and strengthening of its ranger force to effectively protect the park’s wildlife and habitats, together with a major initiative, referred to as the Virunga Alliance, to deliver effective economic development and stability for the populations living around the park. The work was largely funded through public and private support, including the European Union and the Howard G Buffet Foundation. Since then, the programmes were sustained uninterrupted through two civil wars, but at a considerable cost to the park’s staff.
Peace has returned to Virunga, and once again, the park is open to tourism. New tourist activities are being developed and the park now offers high-end lodging conveniently located near the center of the three main tourist attractions: the mountain gorillas, Tongo chimpanzees, and Nyiragongo volcano."
The Information below is taken from the British FCO Travel advice pages
(Link Below)
"The security situation in eastern DRC remains unstable. The continued presence of armed groups, military operations against them, inter-communal violence and an influx of refugees from neighbouring countries all contribute to a deterioration in the political, security and humanitarian situation. There are continued reports of kidnappings, including of staff from international NGOs. While British government staff do visit Goma, they aren’t always in the area, and as with anywhere outside of Kinshasa the British Embassy’s ability to offer consular assistance is severely limited.
The lack of infrastructure throughout the country and continued insecurity in eastern DRC often prevent the British Embassy in Kinshasa from being able to extend normal levels of consular assistance to British nationals anywhere in the DRC other than Kinshasa.
Before considering travel to Democratic Republic of Congo you should read this travel advice carefully, keep up to date with the latest security situation and subscribe to e-mail alerts for updates to this travel advice."
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| FCO Travel advisory map |
Virunga National Park also featured in the July edition of
National Geographic under the heading "Inside the Fight to Save One of the
Worlds Most Dangerous National Parks" The link below will take you to the
article and it is well worth a read.
I have been fascinated by The DRC and Virunga for many
years now and first attempted to get in to the country 3 years ago during my
last big Africa trip but was unable to get a visa as Virunga were
not facilitating applications at that time and a normal DRC visa is a very
long hard process.
So when I had the opportunity to visit this year I
jumped at the chance.
I arrived in Kigali Rwanda on the 2nd July were I planned to
stay and explore for a week before making my way up to the DRC
border approximately 3 Hours drive from Kigali.
Virunga National Park will facilitate a $105 visa on arrival
service for anybody using any of the parks services
The visa is valid for 14 days (2 Weeks) from arrival and is a
lot simpler than applying for a normal DRC visa from the DRC Embassy in your
retrospective countries
The initial plan for DRC was roughly as follows:
1. Cross border explore Goma & stay night
2. Drive to Kibati in order to hike Nyiragogo Volcano
3. Descend Volcano and return to Goma
4. Trek in to Virunga and establish a base camp at Kabare Plateau
5. Ascend Mt Visoke (3711M)
6. Ascend Mt Karisimbi (4507M)
7.Ascend Mt Mikeno (4437M)
8. Return to Goma
9. Visit parks Gorillas at Bukima
10. Tcherega Island R&R
11. Cross border back in to Rwanda
Sadly less than 2 weeks before we were due to cross the
border I received the news that due to the
Rwandan governments decision to increase its cross border patrols in
the region in an attempt to combat the movements of FDLR (Democratic Forces for
the Liberation of Rwanda) that Virunga had no choice but to lock down some
parts of the park.
Due to the RDF's (Rwandan Defence Force) decision to
move operations over the border in to DRC and that area of Virunga being so
heavily forested it was just not safe to visit certain areas of the
park as the possibility of being mistaken for either RDF or FDLR by the other
side and caught up in a ambush was just far to great.
Virunga have already suffered the losses of 152 of its
rangers since 1996 and they simply were not prepared to risk the lives of
their rangers or the tourists that they would be protecting. Meaning
that the area of the park closest to the Rwandan border and home to Mt Visoke,
Mt Karisimbi & Mt Mikeno became a no go zone.
Luckily the areas of Kibati & Bukima, Home to Nyiragongo
volcano and the largest population of the parks Gorillas was at this point
unaffected and it was still considered safe to visit these 2 sites which I was
very glad about as it was 2 of the biggest factors in me wanting to visit
Virunga.
Crossing the border in to DRC was a simple process, First a
quick check of yellow fever certificates followed by a temperature check before
handing over our passports and reference numbers that we were given by
Virunga ready for our visas to be added.
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| View from my hotel room in Goma, (Lake Kiva) |
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| Amazing local Congolese restaurant Tapis Rouge. Excellent authentic local dishes |
I spent the first night in Goma in a hotel on the banks of Lake Kivu (Pic above) and went to try some authentic local cuisine at the highly recommended Tapis Rouge.
The following morning was an early start for the 2 Hour drive to Bukima ranger station from where we would begin the gorilla trekking.
In the DRC they only allow a maximum of 5 People per day to visit each family group. Upon registering and the rangers checking our permits and ID's I was assigned to visit the Munyaga family.
After a reasonably easy 1 hour walk the rangers told us to leave any unnecessary bags and put on our face masks. With that they used there machetes to cut away some vegetation and we were amazed to see that a female gorilla and baby had been only meters away from us for the past 5 mins without us even realising.
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| The Female gorilla and baby |
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| A young male gorilla showing of for the camera |
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| The big chief Silverback having his feed |
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| Cheeky little baby gorilla loved our presence and happily showed of for the camera |
Even though I have had the opportunity to see these beautiful creatures before in Uganda 3 years ago in Bwindi forest. The experience of getting to visit mountain gorillas in there natural environment is just so special and I would happily go again given the opportunity maybe Rwanda next to complete the triple crown he he.
No 2 gorilla trekking experiences are ever the same and will totally depend on the family that you get to visit and how they are behaving on the day. We were extremely lucky that on the day we visited the Munyaga family that the younger of the 2 Silverbacks was going through a bit of a rebellious teenager stage and attempting to show some dominance over the older larger Silverback (His Dad).
This meant that the family was very active, moving around whilst the babies played with each other. Some visits can catch them when they have just finished feeding meaning that they will likely be resting or sleeping and whilst this is still an amazing experience to see them its good if they are a bit more active.
Returning to the hotel in Goma we spent the afternoon exploring the town and stocking up on some supplies. We were warned not to walk outside of the hotel compound at night and only to take pre arranged official vehicles during the dark. That evening we arranged a minibus to a nearby all you can eat restaurant. Defiantly geared more towards expats evident by the large number of UN patrols we passed in order to reach the restaurant and the hundreds of UN vehicles in the car park and lining the streets outside. Clearly popular with UN staff and members of the other hundreds of NGO staff serving in Goma.
The following morning we left for Nyiragongo volcano. One of only 5 active lava lakes in the world. Arriving at Kibati we again checked in with the rangers and were assigned our escorts for the trek. It was expected to be a 5-6 hour hike up the volcano were we would spend the night in the summit shelters before descending in the morning. The hike was step but reasonably easy and there were 4 desginated rest areas along the way before finally reaching the shelters and the summit.
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| National park sign at the start of Nyiragongo trek. (Yes that is bullet holes) |
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| Nyiragongo lava lake |
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| The best views come during the night when the sky turns orange with the glow of the lava |
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| Watching over the lava |
Spending the night on top of Nyiragongo was amazing and the lava lake was just mesmerising despite the almost freezing temperatures it was hard to draw yourself away from the lava lake and I could have literally sat there all night enjoying the amazing show it put on.
In the morning we descended and once more returned to Goma. Now with the other sections of the park still off limits meaning we were unable to continue with the planned itinerary it was decided that we would fly up to Beni and do some trekking in the DRC side of the Rwenzori mountains.
Arriving in Beni we were meet by Virunga rangers who escorted us to the ranger station at the base of the mountains were we would spend the night before beginning the trek in the morning.
We spent 6 days trekking in the mountains and stayed at various different huts and shelters along the route. The scenery was amazing and although step and narrow in places it was a truly amazing 6 days and more than made up for the fact that we were unable to visit the other volcanoes and peaks in the no off limits section of the park.
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| Well deserved summit beers at the Kiondo hut in the Rwenzori's |
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| View down on to Black Lake from the hut |
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| Wusuwamesu Peak. Behind is the glaciers and Margarita &Stanley Peaks |
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| DRC soldiers who had been involved in battles with rebels in Beni the day before we descended from the Rwenzori's Mountains |
Leaving DRC we headed for Uganda and Queen Elizabeth National Park for some R&R before returning to Kigali.
DRC and Virunga is a truly amazing place and I feel that more people should visit. You shouldn't be deterred by FCO advice or negative comments from people who have probably never even visited Africa let alone the DRC.
Whilst any trip does come with its risks the staff and rangers of Virunga are amazing and will make you feel totally safe.
There was never a point during the trip at which I felt scared or unsafe and I'm sure most people would still consider visiting certain European countries even in light of recent attacks both this year and in recent years.
So why should DRC be looked upon any differently.
So long as you are sensible and follow any advice or guidelines given to you. Then a truly wonderful eye opening trip will be possible
