Top Safari Activities in Virunga National Park During COVID-19
Top Safari Activities in Virunga National Park During COVID-19: Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic by the world health organization which affected a number of tourism destinations including virunga national park which led to the closure o the park for tourism activities. With the emergence of a number of safety precautions that are followed by the park management and the tourists a large to avoid the spread of the virus, it has allowed a number of tourists interested in taking part in a number of activities in virunga national park to access the park premises. Among the different safety precautions that are followed in the park to avoid the spread of the virus include regular sanitising this is because during the different activities you are exposed to different surfaces of which some of them can be contaminated hence the contracting of the virus other precaution like maintaining social distancing and limiting the number of people that participate in the different activities has also allowed helped in the prevention of the spread of covid-19. With the different prevention measures exercised, here are some of the Top Safari Activities in Virunga National Park During COVID-19 that you can choose to engage in for a memorable experience during your Congo safari.
Hiking mount Nyiragongo
One of the most rewarding activities in virunga national park that you can choose to take part in is hiking mount Nyiragongo, home to the world’s largest lava lake. Mount Nyiragongo is an active volcano that tourists get to hike yearly for rewarding experience; the hike is carried out for two days which gives the tourists the experience to spend a night camping at the summit where you can also get the chance to see the lava boiling underneath the earth’s crust. Other rewarding views that can be seen as you hike to the summit include the exceptional views include primate species swinging in the tree branches, other views of the virunga mountains, numerous bird like dent’s monkey, vervet monkey, mona monkey, golden monkeys and so on, bird species like the long-crested eagle handsome Francolin, Rwenzori Batis Dusky turtle love, paradise flycatcher, archer’s ground robin, African Rwenzori, double collared sunbird, marsh harrier, Ruwenzori turaco and different animal species.
Gorilla trekking
Gorilla trekking is among the top activities in virunga national park during covid-19 that you can get to take part in for a memorable experience in the park. the activity is quite rewarding in the sense that it will give you the chance to understand more about the endangered mountain gorillas in the park at a relatively cheaper price compared to gorilla trekking in Uganda and gorilla trekking in Rwanda. During gorilla trekking you will have the chance to see how the primates co-exist with one another, their diet which comprises of small invertebrates like caterpillars, fruits, bamboo shoots, you will get to see them construct their nests for overnight stay, their grooming patterns among other rewarding activities they take part in.
Gorilla habituation
Gorilla habituation in virunga national park will not only give you firsthand experience observing the endangered mountain gorillas being trained to get accustomed to human presence but also give you the opportunity to take part in the training process as well this will give you the authentic experience of how the gorillas react to the different trainings before they are exposed to masses of tourists interested in visiting them. Important to not about gorilla habituation is the fact that trackers get to spend more time with the gorillas compared to gorilla trekking which only gives tourists one hour to spend with the gorillas.
Visiting the Senkwenkwe gorilla orphanage
The Senkwenkwe gorilla orphanage in virunga national park was established to take care of orphaned gorillas that lost their parents as a result of poaching in the park and among the top activities in virunga national park during covid-19 you should consider visiting the orphanage to take care of the infants for a day. At the orphanage there are a number of activities that are carried out to ensure that the gorillas feel safe and are taken care of before they are ready to be sent back to the wild. At the orphange you can volunteer for a day cleaning the sleeping areas of the gorillas, you can also feed the infants, play with the gorillas because at the end of the day gorillas need some love and affection to feel safe after the traumatic experience of losing their parents.
Chimpanzee trekking
There’s a lot the park has to offer when it comes to the different activities you can take part in during covid-19 but one of the most rewarding is chimpanzee trekking which involves tourists visiting one of the habituated chimpanzee troops in the park to understand interesting features of the chimpanzees. During chimpanzee trekking in virunga national park, you will get to understand their feeding patterns and behaviours by observing what they eat for instance edible leaves, wild celery, wild fruit and in rare occasions small insects like caterpillars, termites you will also observe their grooming patterns and you can see adult females taking on the job among a number of interesting features of the primates that will make your activity quite rewarding.
Chimpanzee habituation
Just like gorilla habituation in virunga national park that involves tourists training part in training the gorillas to get accustomed to human presence, Chimpanzee habituation will also give you the chance to take part in the process of training the chimpanzees as a way of getting them used to human presence thus the chimpanzee habituation process. The activity takes nearly the whole day which will give you more time to spend with chimpanzees understanding their behaviour while in the park for a memorable experience.
With the above top activities in virunga national park during covid-19, you will the chance to experience the utmost adventure in the park while in a safe environment that will not compromise your safety from corona virus making your Congo safari quite memorable and virunga national park worthy of repeated visits.
