Home » Travel Blog » Trek mountain gorillas, Lowland gorillas & hike Nyiragongo on your Congo safari
Trek mountain gorillas, Lowland gorillas & hike Nyiragongo on your Congo safari
After your lowland gorilla trekking Safari Congo in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, you can too add a mountain gorilla safari tour Congo that is done in the Virunga National Park Congo. It may seem the same experience but they are different because you are going to trek a different specie of gorillas that live in a different environment; mountainous area hence the name mountain gorillas.
Virunga National Park Congo is the popularly visited destination in the country with two popular activities done in the park which are Mountain gorilla trekking and a hike to Mount Nyiragongo summit. Mount Nyiragongo is within the Virunga massif close to the Albertine rift a region that is very rich in diversity within Africa. Mount Nyiragongo is about 3,470m high with two distinct lava benches one about 3,175m (10,417ft) and the other at 2,975m (9,760ft). Mount Nyiragongo is one of Africa’s recently active stratovolcanoes with a lava lake once known as the most voluminous. The most common activity on mount Nyiragongo is hiking especially done alongside Congo gorilla trekking safaris in Virunga National Park.
This amazing Volcano is 20km north of Goma town (capital of the North Kivu province in the Eastern DRC) and just west of the border with Rwanda. From 1882, Mount Nyiragongo has erupted at least 34 times. In 1977, there was an active volcanic activity when the walls fractured and the lava lake drained in one hour creating the fastest lava flow recorded (40mi/h). Mount Nyiragongo is one of the recent active volcanoes and for this uniqueness many are always daring to hike Mount Nyiragongo and never have they been disappointed, the lava and hike experience are 2 different and memorable Congo safari activities.
A hike to Mount Nyiragongo is briefly a single day Congo tour hike and a single day descend with a night spent at the summit.
You can decide to take the Nyiragongo volcano hike either as a stand-alone trip or tailor it with a Congo gorilla trekking safari to Virunga National Park. One can also opt to tailor their safari with a Uganda wildlife safari during an extended or long safari.
For a Mount Nyiragongo trek, you arrive from your destination probably Kigali International Airport which is the closest airport with daily flight then transfer to Goma town.
On the first day of the trek, you are expected to be at the hike start point by 8:00am Congo local time.
The ascent up the volcano starts at around 10:00am with most climbing groups reaching the summit by 5:00pm. The trek is split in to five legs, so you get four rest stops of about 20 minutes each as you regain your strength and collect your breath. On arriving at the summit, you will spend the night on the crater in small summit cabins just enough for your rest through the cold night.
Early morning before sunrise after taking memorable pictures of the lava at the summit, by around 6:00am getting you then start the descend back to the hike start point going through the steep rocky trail.
In case you need help with the hike and your luggage, hiring a porter at a fee is the best option.