Virunga, Gorillas and Lava
From mountain gorillas to an active volcano, the Virunga National Park is an unfathomable place.
After one night at the border town of Gisenyi, we crossed the border to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). DRC is currently a crazy place to do tourism. Ebola, kidnappings, protests, riots… Looking at our embassy’s websites, the authorities put the country as dangerous to visit. The situation is even worse on the eastern part close to the Rwandan border. Why one would want to get there, especially East? Simple, this area close to Goma is home of the oldest National Park of Africa. There are plenty of parks in Africa, but here you can find the Nyiragongo volcano 🌋. This volcano is active and features the biggest lava lake in the world! But wait, the surrounding volcanoes is also home of mountain gorillas 🦍. Remember ”Gorilla in the mist”?
Getting There
Forget about any backpackers tip here. The only way to get there is through the park itself. Just the process of getting a VISA is only doable if you pass through the park. Also, do NOT arrange the trip with a tour or something else. Why? Because they will just book for you with the park, and add their commission. There is just only one way to do it. I am helping you here because the website is not really clear. Go here to book. You have to select a package and follow the instructions. In worst case there is an email and phone. They are super reactive and helpful 👍.
The reason is that you will be H24 with the park rangers to protect you. You have literally hundreds of staffs, insane. When you check in at the boarder, they handle the VISA and load you in a truck. Speaking of which, getting to DRC canceled our Eastern African VISA. Thus we had to buy a new one ($100) when getting back 🤬. I hate this VISA thing…
Through Goma, it’s safe enough so that the truck drives by itself. Although, the week before our arrival, an incident happened with the UN. We were not really welcomed. Nasty finger, death signs, pretending to throw rocks…
Due to Ebola being in Goma, there are checkpoints all around the city. You have to clean your hands and they take your temperature. Starting from an outer checkpoint, a patrol escorts the truck. A year ago, they got tourist kidnapped on this road. Hence, they have drastically increased the protection.
The road is only good for a few kilometers, afterwards it’s a mess until the camp. African massage for an hour or so. Close to the camp, all the kids are greeting us. Kind off a rock star feeling, better than Goma 😅.
Mikeno Mist
The park proposes several packages to do the volcano and the gorillas. As being in low season, the gorilla permit is the cheapest in Eastern Africa at $200. That’s why we did not do it in Uganda ($600). We went for the “budget” package to do both the gorillas and the volcano. Cheap means for the accommodation it’s a tented camp and not a lodge. Overall it costed an arm (or two) at $1123:
- VISA $105,
- tent $231 (you must book two nights),
- Gorillas $200,
- Volcano $356.
But you know what? It was so worth it! I was never that happy to spend that much money. Also, everything is included (of course not alcohol or tips if you do — for once they really don’t push for it 👍 and you know what? Just for that we were glad to tip).
Starting from the “tent”. It’s a luxurious tent. You have hot water, a thermos for hot water all the time, electricity, WiFi and they gave us a smartphone to WhatsApp the staff for anything. That’s not it. After diner, we were delighted to see they placed a hot-water bottle in our bed 😊.
Diner? Simply the best food we had so far. Just the deserts were too small, it’s because it was super good. 😋 home made chocolate…
Last but not least, the location. It’s fabulous. You have a view on the Nyiragongo and on the Mikeno. At night, you see red fumes coming out of the volcano 🤩 (I have some pictures with the camera that I will upload later).
We had half a day to enjoy the place before any activity. Met some friends (hi guys 👋), chilled at the fire, relax 🤙.
Gorillas 🦍
After an early breakfast, we started our program with the Mountain Gorillas. The Virunga is the only place in the world with Mountain Gorillas. The park is actually at the crossing of Uganda, Rwanda and DRC. The species is sadly endangered, and the number of Gorillas is only increasing on the DRC side.
We visited the Baraka family. It took us 2 hours and a half to reach them. The walk was very scenic in the jungle. We passed through 2 types of jungle. The rangers with us were super nice — way better than our experience in Rwanda when we hiked the Bisoke volcano.
Hrum hrum (Daniela says I sound more like a car 🤣)… we hear gorillas! We are speechless.
As we are getting close to them, we have to put on masks to prevent the transmission of any disease 👌. We should have had that for chimpanzees in Uganda… Furthermore, the rangers are making this “Hrum hrum“ sound so that gorillas are not afraid of us.
During an hour, we got to be with them. We were ridiculously close. They were passing by like we were one of them.
This was an extraordinary moment with them. They are so fluffy, big and yet so similar to us 🤩.
Nyiragongo 🌋
When looking for information about East Africa, I stumbled upon this volcano. A lava lake, how cool is that? But first, you need to hike. We have read quite some reviews about it. They all described the hike as hell. It really depends if you’re hiking or not. In the end, it’s ~1400 m elevation in ~6 km. But you have the day to get up there as you sleep on top.
The park is renting backpacks with everything from the sleeping bag, sleeve, food and water. There is no water on the way, so pack at least 4 liters. If you rent the backpack ($100), it also means that a cook will prepare your food. Careful, the bag is super heavy and not comfortable! Some people wanted to carry it at first, but they gave up. It’s almost like they force you to hire a porter ($25)… On our side, as for Mount Kenya, we carried our backpacks ourselves. Remember? Budget. It’s $250 for the two of us.
The route is super steep and sometimes rocks are slippery. It took us 5 hours to go up (3 down). As usual, rangers imposed a constant rhythm right from the beginning — leaving no time to warm up. At least, we were waiting everybody 👍.
The weather was changing all the time along the way. We had rain, hail and sun. The landscape is impressive. You’re on another planet.
So, should you carry your stuff? If you’re used to walk with 10 kg, you could. Otherwise, forget about it, you will suffer… Because we didn’t rent backpacks, we had to cook as well. We bought everything in Gisenyi before crossing the border. As we were running low on gaz, we also bought charcoal. The cook arranged a fireplace for us on top and started our fire 😎.
We reached the top around 4 pm. The sun was still up, so we would not see properly the lava. Still, I was totally bought! We stayed there to observe and comment about the fumes and the activity.
As the sun was going down, we could see more and more the lava. The activity was so intense! The rim of the lava lake was glowing. The color of the lava was unreal. We could also feel the heat although we were standing quite far. We had our lava lake 🌋 (this emoji could be named Nyiragongo).
We didn’t realize it immediately, but the flow was increasing. Around 8 pm, the lava went over the inner rim. The spectacle was perfect… We woke up during the night to see it again. The level of the lake had lowered back to its original level.
By the way, the huts are really nice 👌. Made out of plastic, they close so that it’s warm and there are pillows and mattresses for two people.
Memories for Life
Both the gorillas and the Nyiragongo were amazing. It was one of the best (if not the best) trip I have ever done in my life. It’s a once in a lifetime experience, and everything was perfect from the start to the end.
Yes, the area is currently dangerous (red zone for the embassies). But the park is really making sure that nothing can happen to you. You have trained armed rangers H24 with you. Considering the risk, I cannot advise you anything. It was a tough decision on our side. We called our embassies, the park and in the end went for it.
Our African escape is coming to its end. We just have a week before flying from Nairobi. Nothing but relaxing is planned.
