Mount Mikeno
Mount Mikeno is one of the Virunga Mountains that are shared by different national parks like Virunga national park where you will find mount Mikeno, mount Nyamuragira and mount Nyiragongo. Other mountains can be found in Mgahinga National park and Volcanoes national park famous for its Rwanda gorilla tours. Mount Mikeno has a number of attractions that can be found along its slopes which makes it one of the very important attractions within the park.
Virunga national park is known for being Africa’s oldest National Park, a park where you can find a number of attractions like the numerous primate species like the mountain gorillas, chimpanzees a number of different bird species that can be seen in the different trees found along the slopes of Mount Mikeno. Some of the attractions and the activities that can be carried out in the park along mount Mikeno include the following;
Gorilla trekking
Along the slopes of Mount Mikeno, you will find different Congo gorilla families because the park is home to mountain gorilla species that can be tracked at any given time of the year. Gorilla trekking in Virunga National park is carried out early morning where tourists gather at the Bukima area within the park where the gorilla tracking activity begins. At the Bukima area, tourists will first participate in a briefing session where they are briefed on the activity of gorilla trekking what should be expected of the tourists during the encounters with the gentle giants. During gorilla trekking in the park, there are different guidelines that should be followed while carrying out gorilla trekking.
Chimpanzee trekking
On the lower slopes of Mount Mikeno, tourists can participate in chimpanzee trekking which is another interesting tourism activity that can be carried out in the park. There are different habituated chimpanzee troops. With the help of the Frankfurt Zoological Society which spearheaded the chimpanzee habituation process within the park in the park which is one of the reasons you should visit Congo particularly virunga national park where you will get to participate in a number of interesting activities like chimpanzee trekking where you will get the chance to learn more about the playful primates that can be found in the park.
Chimpanzee habituation
Chimpanzee habituation can also be carried out along mount Mikeno along the Tongo trail that was created for the habituation process of the chimpanzee species in Park. Chimpanzee habituation in the park involves tourists accompanying a team of researchers to the different chimpanzee troops as they train them to get used/accustomed to human presence.
The activity will involve tourists waking up very early after having their breakfast and head to the forest with their packed lunch since it is an all-day activity. With their lunch, they will meet their guide who will lead you to where the chimpanzees built their nests the activity will be an interesting one which will involve taking pictures of the primates, observing their authentic behavior during the training with the researchers and so on.
Hiking
Hiking the Virunga Mountains offers the most exhilarating experiences in Virunga National Park because of a number of attractions that can be seen. Mount Mikeno will offer amazing experiences for hikers interested in carrying out hiking in Virunga National Park. During the hike on Virunga National Park, you will get to see a number of attractions like a number of bird species like; the bronze sunbird, northern puff back, common waxbill, thick-billed seed eater, mountain sooty, collared sunbird, bronze mannikin, olive woodpecker.
A number of primate species can be seen like Golden monkeys, Dent’s Mona Monkey, De Brazza’s monkey, Olive baboon, Red colobus monkey, Grey-cheeked Mangabey, Hamlyn’s Monkey, Blue Monkey, Mantled Guereza within the trees along the slopes and in the bamboo trees of the mountain, you will have the chance to see the golden monkeys and the different gorilla families.
At the summit of Mount Mikeno, you will see exceptional views of other virunga mountains within the park like mount Nyiragongo, mount karisimbi and mount Bisoke where Dian Fossey the American primatologist that spearheaded gorilla conservation in volcanoes national park established her Karisoke research station in between the 2 volcanoes. Mount Nyamuragira, you will also have the chance to see Lake Kivu from a distance, the different vegetation zones among other eye-catching views.
