The great Virunga conservation area straddles across three countries that is Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo inclusive of Virunga national park in Congo, Volcanoes national park in Rwanda and Mgahinga national park in Uganda respectly.
The name Virunga was derived from a local word “Ibirunga” translated to refer to volcano,
The most unique thing about the Virunga conservation area is that it’s home to the endangered mountain gorillas only found here in the whole world and Bwindi impenetrable forest national park in Uganda though it’s close to the Virunga area.
Before the Virunga area was gazetted, the Batwa pygmies were the first inhabitants of the forests on the Virunga conservation area, the Batwa people depended on the forests for shelter, food, medicine and so much more until they were evicted when they established national parks. You can visit the Batwa people and listen to their ancient forest stories, enjoy cultural performances and learn a lot about the locals.
Other attractions in the Virunga conservation area include;
The Virunga mountains
The Virunga mountains ranges are shared within the three above mentioned countries and make 8 mountains namely; Mount Mikeno, Mount Nyiragongo, mount Nyamuragira, mount Muhabura, mount Sabinyo, mount Karasimbi, mount Mgahinga and mount Bisoke. Two of the Virunga volcanoes are still active while others are dormant.
While in any of the three national parks, you can also hike one of the Virunga range volcanoes, all these mountains provide unique experiences during the hike with beautiful spectacular views at the top. You can spot various wildlife and birds during the hike.
Golden monkeys
The unique golden monkeys are a rare species of monkeys found in the Virunga area, there are only about 4000 golden monkeys existing in the wild.
Tourists can track golden monkeys in any of the above mentioned national parks. Tracking golden monkeys is cheaper than mountain gorilla trekking and the golden monkey families are also easy to access, tourists tracking golden monkeys are not limited to only eight and you can spend much more time with this beautiful species compared to gorillas where you only spend an hour.
Although the above are the distinctive attractions in the Virunga, the area is also home to other wildlife such as forest elephants, bush babies, De Brazza monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys , olive baboons, red tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, bush buck, warthogs, several antelopes, giant forest hogs, Genet cats, duikers and so much more.
