2 Best Congo National Parks to visit on your birthday

Here are the 2 best National Parks to visit on your birthday. Are you planning to spend and celebrate your birthday time in Congo, we recommend these two National parks to visit on your birthday in Congo. These include Virunga National Park and Kahuzi Beiga National Park. Visiting both parks will give you an opportunity to see gorillas during your birthday time that is both Mountain Gorillas and Lowland Gorillas.

Virunga National Park is one of the most diverse tropical rain forests and oldest national parks in Africa mostly famous for mountain gorilla trekking in Congo, among other activities that can be done here during your birthday include the Nyirangongo volcano hike, bird watching, Nature walks, Chimpanzee tracking and Habituation and these can all be booked for you when you contact us.

Kahuzi Beiga National Park is best known for lowland gorilla trekking, it was gazetted in 1970 and the first lowland gorilla trekking experience was done in 1973, this type of trekking is only done here and this makes the park rank high when it comes to the lowland gorilla trekking. The Park has 12 gorilla families and out of these only 2 gorilla families are habituated and they are open for visitors to trek. The families are called Chimanuka and Mugaruka both named after a dominant silverback, Chimanuka is famous for many visitors given it is consisting of one of the largest gorilla families in the world with over 36 gorilla individuals.

Our Popular DR Congo packages to consider booking for your birthday;

2 Days Nyirangongo Volcano Hike

3 Days Gorilla Trekking in Congo

3 Days Nyirangongo Volcano Hike

4 Days Nyirangongo & Gorilla Trekking

5 Days Nyirangongo Volcano Hike

5 Days Gorillas & Nyirangongo Hike

6 Days Gorillas & Nyirangongo Hike (You will see both Lowland and Mountain Gorillas)

What is the cost to see Gorillas in Congo on your birthday?

The cost to see gorillas in Congo on your birthday in Congo is determined by the style of travel you are interested in that is budget, standard, or luxury. Gorilla permits are the most essential when you are planning to see gorillas in DR Congo. Compared to other national parks for gorilla trekking in Uganda and Rwanda that is Bwindi and Mgahinga and Volcanoes National Parks respectively gorilla trekking in Congo is much cheaper and more affordable. Virunga National Park offers both normal and discounted gorilla permits for trekking mountain gorillas in Congo. It is during the high season or peak season of the months December, January, February, June, July, August, September, and early October that the gorilla permit of Virunga National Park costs 400 USD per person per trek, during these months, the park receives many visitors because it is a holiday season for many travelers and it is also a dry season which makes it easy for the gorilla trek and walks through the trails in the Virunga forest. With this, if you plan to visit Congo for gorilla trekking during these months we do advise you to book your trek in advance at least 3 months early so that you don’t miss out on the gorilla permits. Then for the discounted gorilla permits trekking in Congo Virunga National park, these are offered during the off-season months of early March, April and May then early October, November, and early December annually at 200 USD per person per trek and this offer runs from 15th of March to 15th of May and then from 15th of October and 15th of December, the advance booking of the discounted permits is same to the normal permits and we do advise you book your spot in advance at least 3 months before the trekking date.

Top things to do and see on your birthday tour in Congo.

Mountain gorilla trekking in Virunga National Park, Congo

This is the major activity done in the Virunga National park and on your visit during your birthday in Congo you shouldn’t miss out on this experience, there are not so many mountain gorilla individuals in Virunga despite the availability of the large habitat and it is only 6 families open for gorilla trekking activity, these include Kabirizi gorilla group, Humba gorilla group, Rugendo gorilla group, Mapuwa gorilla group, Lulengo gorilla group, Munyaga gorilla group, Nyakamwe gorilla group, and Bageni gorilla group. Among these groups, it is Kabirizi which is popular for gorilla trekking and loved by many tourists because it is the largest group with over 3 dozen gorilla individuals. If you are interested in trekking this specific gorilla group, you will be required to book early enough your gorilla permit at least 3 months in advance so that you don’t miss out on the trek.

Lowland gorilla trekking in Kahuzi Beiga National Park, Congo

Lowland Gorilla trekking is done in Kahuzi Beiga National Park and this activity is guaranteed when you acquire a permit, but kindly note given the park has 2 families open for trekking this makes the gorilla permits very competitive and scarce most especially during peak seasons of June, July, August, September, December, and February. Sometimes gorilla tracking permits get sold out four months in advance so any traveler is recommended to book their gorilla permits 3-4 months in advance.

Chimpanzee tracking and Chimpanzee Habituation in Virunga National Park

Chimpanzee tracking and Chimpanzee habituation are the second most popular activities to do in Virunga National Park on your DR Congo birthday tour, chimpanzee tracking gives you a one-hour encounter with the chimpanzees while chimpanzee habituation gives an entire day encounter with the chimpanzees, both treks begin in the morning hours where you will be joined by trackers and researchers to walk through the Virunga forest and search for chimpanzees. you will have a chance to observe and discover their habits, feeding, and natural behavior. Those on the chimpanzee habituation treks will spend the day with them until they nest for the night. Same with the gorilla trekking permits for the chimpanzee tracking and habituation experiences you will still need to book your permit in advance in order not to miss out at least 3 months in advance.

Nature walks through the Virunga Forest

Virunga National Park is one of the oldest tropical rain forests in Africa with super dense vegetation, a nature walk through this forest during your birthday will give you a chance to discover and see the breathtaking beauty of the unique Virunga Landscape as well as learn about the various tree species, spot birds and if keen enough you will see some mammals and reptiles.

Nyirangongo Volcano Hike

Hiking the Nyirangongo Volcano is one of the once-in-a-lifetime adventures one should do on his/her birthday and this is done in Virunga National Park. The Nyirangongo Volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in the world with an elevation of 3,470 m (11,380 ft), not much is known about how long the volcano has been erupting, but since 1882, it has erupted at least 34 times and the most recent eruption happened in 2002.

Bird watching

Virunga Forest being one of the most diverse forests in the tropics that has various habitats and landscapes ranging from Forests, swamps to grasslands, these have thus attracted a vast number of bird species making the birding expedition one of the must-do activities on your visit to Virunga national park. There are more than 706 recorded bird species that one on a birding safari will have a chance to spot and see. Contact us here and we will organize for you this safari accordingly.

What is the best time to visit Congo?

Virunga National Park is located in the tropics and it is majorly covered with tropical rain forest vegetation, with this it is prone to receiving uncertain rains any time of the day or week, however, given it is a tropical rain forest there are still good months to visit this park that is the dry season which occurs in the months of December, January, February, June, July, August, and September during these months it is always easy to walk through the trails which are drier compared to the wet months also the vegetation is not fully grown and this makes the sighting of gorillas easy and more clear. Other months which are a bit wet that is March, April, May, October, and November most travelers avoid visiting gorillas during these months because the vegetation is fully grown and trails are much slippery making the trekking much harder.

How to easily get to Congo

You will fly to Kigali International Airport then connect to Gisenyi town; from Gisenyi town, you will cross the Rwanda-Congo border to Goma town in DR Congo then drive towards Bukima, and then you will reach the park headquarters of Virunga National Park from where you will start the gorilla trek from, it is approximately a 2 hours’ drive from Gisenyi town to reach the park headquarters from Virunga you will drive to Kahuzi Beiga National Park where you will do lowland gorilla trekking

Why book your birthday safari to Congo with Encounter Africa safaris?

Encounter Africa Safaris boosts of a professional office and field team that takes care of all your requests and inquiries. We are highly recommended on trip advisor as well as Safari bookings. Our website is one of the best and most reliable points to help you start preparing for your tour, we have the best and most updated information that you can rely on. Encounter Africa safaris is owned and run by Ugandans who have well explored Congo for many years and as such, you will be dealing with a team that sells what they know.