A gorilla trekking safari to congo DRC

When one talks about trekking mountain gorillas, most countries that come into minds of tourists and tour operators are Uganda and Rwanda. In Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, over 400 mountain gorillas do exist while others are believed to be staying in the virunga rangers shared between Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. Every year, Uganda and Rwanda receive thousands of tourists interested in trekking and finding the rare mountain gorillas yet The Democratic Republic of Congo also is home to the rare mountain gorillas.

Democratic Republic of Congo popularly know as Congo is a country located in central Africa bordering Uganda in the east, Atlantic ocean in the west, Rwanda, Burundi and Angola in the south while other countries boarder Congo in the north. This huge country is gifted by lots of wildlife including mountain gorillas, low land gorillas, chimpanzees and other savannah wildlife mostly in the virunga national park. Amidst all these attractions including the vast tropical rain forest very few gorilla loving tourists have not preferred tracking gorillas in the Congo due to several reasons.

Gorilla permits in The Democratic Republic of Congo cost as low as USD400.00 per person compared to Rwanda’s USD750.00 and USD600.00 in Uganda. This could be looked as an incentive but the country has failed to attract good number of tourists in their national Park.

Insecurity in the eastern part of Democratic republic of Congo is one of the hindrances affecting gorilla tourism and trekking in the Congo. Several rebel groups most especially from Uganda, Rwanda and Congo do operate on this side of the country making it hard for gorilla tracking loving tourists to risk their lives for the sake of visiting Congo for gorilla tracking and other tour activities. These rebels take advantage of the thick tropical rain forest as their hide out and scare away the would be tourist.

Impassability of the road in the eastern side of Democratic republic of Congo is one other major problem. Most tourists access Congo using vehicles and many would not like to get stuck in the middle of no where just because of gorilla trekking. Last year, some news paper showed a presidential convoy stuck in mud meaning that if you do not have a strong vehicle, chances of making it in and out are very minimal and because of this, tourists prefer visiting Uganda and Rwanda where good roads do exist and reaching gorilla is done with no hassle.

Level of accommodation is still low in The Democratic republic of congo giving less choice for tourists to choose from. In Uganda and Rwanda, there is exists both Budget and upmarket options from where tourists can choose from and thus in a situation where DRC can not provide options, then it becomes very difficult to compete with Uganda and Rwanda.

While the country has so much to offer, very few tourists are not ready to risk their lives just because of a one day adventure which is offered in other countries. We do not operate in the Democratic Republic of congo due to the fact that safety of our clients comes first.