ACTIVITIES IN VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK DURING COVID-19
Activities in Virunga National Park during Covid-19 : Virunga national park is famous for housing the world’s largest lava lake on mount Nyiragongo which has attracted a number of tourists to visit the park to take part in the rewarding experience of watching the lava lake and also to take part in a number of activities in virunga national park during covid-19.
The democratic republic is among the different African countries that were affected by the covid-19 global pandemic which also led to the closer to virunga national park which came up with a number of safety measures to ensure that tourists take part in a number of activities in the park while being protected against contracting corona virus.
Among the standard operating procedures that were put up by the park administration to ensure that you have a safe experience during your Congo safaris include; ensuring that tourists wear their face masks while taking part in the different activities in virunga national park, maintaining an arm’s length while carrying out the different activities, before accessing the park premises and taking part in the different activities, you should sanitise to avoid contracting the virus in case you came in contact with contaminates surfaces, before accessing the park premises, you will have to present you covid-19 negative test certificate or a vaccination documents to take part in the different activities that the park has to offer all of these which will offer safe ground to carry out the different activities in virunga national park during covid-19
Activities in Virunga national park
Gorilla trekking
Gorilla trekking in virunga national park is the most rewarding activity that will give you the chance to track the endangered species in the park. The park is a home to a number of habituated gorilla families that will give you the opportunity to spend one hour with them understanding their different behaviours in the wild like how they construct their nests for overnight stay, it should be noted that gorillas construct new nests every day to sleep in which is quite fascinating, you will get to see how they carry out grooming as you can see the adult females cleaning the infant’s ears and also the juveniles checking others for ticks, you will also get to see their gentle nature as you engage with them for an amazing experience among other rewarding features of the primates.
Chimpanzee trekking
Chimpanzee trekking is carried out along the lower slopes of Mount Mikeno in the park where gorilla trekking in virunga national park can be carried out. Just like gorilla trekking in the park, you will get to spend one hour with the species observing a number of rewarding features of the primates like their feeding patterns how they feed on fruits and edible leaves, flowers small insects how they co-exist with one another, their grooming patterns among other rewarding experiences.
Chimpanzee habituation
Chimpanzee habituation is another activity among the activities in virunga national park during covid-19 that you should not miss out during your Congo safaris. Interesting about chimpanzee habituation process is the fact that you will be part of the habituation process of training the chimpanzees to get accustomed to human presence. During the activity, you will get to see how the chimpanzees react towards the different training sessions in the park, their authentic reactions as they get used to human presence as they get ready for chimpanzee trekking
Visit the Senkwenkwe gorilla orphanage
Spend time at the Senkwenkwe gorilla orphanage, a facility in virunga national park which was established to provide refugee to orphaned gorillas whose parents were victims of poaching. At the gorilla orphanage, you can also volunteer to clean the eating area of the orphanage, feed the gorillas, clean their sleeping dormitories among other activities in the orphanage as you get to see them playing in their play rooms which is one of the most rewarding activities in virunga national park during covid-19.
Birding
In virunga national park there are a number of water bodies where you will get to see a number of migratory birds and endemic bird species like the Ruwenzori turaco, grey throated barbet, narrow tailed sterling Doherty’s Bush-shrikes, Chubb’s Cisticola, African Goshawk, African Blue Flycatcher and Baglafetcht weaver, handsome Francolin, Dusky turtle love, Ruwenzori turaco, Ruwenzori night jar, the dusky crimson wing African fish Eagle among other bird species and many more. Birding in virunga national park will give you the opportunity to see over 100 bird species which is quite impressive during your birding expedition in the park.
GOLDEN MONKEY TREKKING
Participate in golden monkey trekking as part of the activities in virunga national park during covid-19 which will give you the chance to understand more about the endangered golden monkey species. the activity involves hiking through the forests of g mount Mikeno where you will access the habituated troops of which you will get to spend one hour with the golden monkeys to understand their behaviour in the park, you will also get to also take a picture of the golden monkeys which will ensure that you will have an amazing time in the park.
MOUNT NYIRAGONGO HIKE
Another activity in virunga national park that should not be missed out on is Mount Nyiragongo hike which will offer rewarding experiences in the park is taking part in the Mount Nyiragongo hike which will help you access the world’s largest lava lake on its summit. Mount Mikeno is one of the most active mountains that you will get to see when you reach its summit as you will have the chance to see lava boiling underneath the earth’s crust and a number of displays of the lava in the mountain.
