Attractions

Welcome to Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. While on your visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo you can visit the Virunga Park famously known for the mountain gorilla safaris, Mount Nyiragongo hiking tours and the Chimpanzee habituation experience in the Tongo forest that is near the Mikeno Lodge in Rumangabo sector where on your visit to the park you can visit the Senkwekwe gorilla orphanage sanctuary.

Mountain gorillas

The mountain gorillas live in Virunga mountain ranges, which are shared by Volcanoes National park in Rwanda, Mgahinga National park in Uganda and Virunga national park in DR Congo. Mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park are a source of tourism attraction under ICCN. In the process of conserving mountain gorillas, the other subspecies of eastern and western gorillas in DRC have also received conservation attention including other wildlife that share habitats with mountain gorillas which has made diversity of wildlife relevant besides gorillas.

Senkwekwe Gorilla Orphanage Sanctuary

Mount Nyiragongo volcano

Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 metres in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 20 km (12 mi) north of the town of Goma and Lake Kivu and just west of the border with Rwanda. Lava flows through down town of Goma and reaches Lake Kivu, only to 150 km depth. The most recent large eruption of Nyiragongo occurred in 2002 where 147 people killed. During this eruption lava flows moved through the city of Goma on the shores of Lake Kivu destroying 13% of the city and approximately 12,000 to 15,000 homes displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Lake Kivu Beaches

Congo Culture Aspects