Virunga National Park Closes All Gorilla Tourism Activities Until The Month Of June 2020
As the tourism industry all around the world continues to bleed as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, various tourism entities, and attractions sites have had to come up with different measures to ensure that they protect themselves and their clients from this global pandemic that’s spreading so fast like a wild fire. In so doing, Virunga National Park, one of Africa’s leading gorilla trekking destination has decided to close its operations with immediate effect until the month of June 2020.
Virunga National Park is a famous destination for Africa gorilla safaris as it is one of the 4 national parks in East Africa where you can find the endangered Western mountain gorillas. In the world as of today, mountain gorillas are considered an
Kyaguliro family
endangered species as there only 1063 of them remaining. The Virunga massif which comprises of 3 national parks namely Virunga National Park in Congo, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Mgahinga gorilla National park is home to 604 of these total and the remaining balance of 459 gorillas can be found in the Bwindi Impenetrable national park of Uganda and Serembwe conservation area of Congo. This therefore makes Virunga National Park a highly thought after destination to anyone who wishes to see gorillas in their natural habitat. However in a newly publicized letter from the Institut Congolaise pour la Conservation de la Nature / Virunga Foundation an organization that’s tasked with running this park, the park will tentatively be closing all its tourism activities for the time being until 1st June 2020. In its part the document read “As many of you may have heard, Virunga National Park has taken the decision to close all gorilla tourism in the park due to the rapidly unfolding situation regarding the global spread of COVID-19.”
The letter further revealed that the organisation made this decision as a precautionary measure following guidelines given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which advises people “to restrict movement and limit social contact”. It further said that this decision has also been based on scientific advice given by experts about the high likelihood of primates such as gorillas to be susceptible to complications arising from this viral disease hence the need to be steadfast in ensuring that the gorilla population remains protected from such a lethal disease.
The park advised that they will not be taking new bookings until the 1st of June 2020 however they are “committed to reopening our Gorilla tourism as soon as the situation allows.” “For all of you who are holding bookings with us in the next two months, we will honor a postponement up to June 2021.We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued support through this challenging time.” Ended the letter from Virunga Foundation.
Prime Safaris wishes to take this opportunity to advise all its esteemed clients who were planning to visit Virunga National Park in the near coming months April and May to reconsider their plans to a later date possibly to the month of June and beyond. We promise to keep updating you on new developments as they come through using our various online platforms such as face book, Twitter, linked in and blog posts. We remain committed to giving you the ultimate Africa safari memories when you chose to explore the African frontiers with us.
At Wild Gorilla Safaris, we strive to meet all your Africa safari needs as we have got virtually the safari packages that will give you a memorable Africa safari experience.Congo is one of the gorilla destination and we have numerous Congo gorilla safari packages that will take you on a Congo gorilla tour adventure to either Virunga National Park for an encounter with mountain gorillas or Kahuzi Beiga National Park where you will encounter Eastern lowland gorillas. Besides gorilla safaris and wildlife encounters in Uganda, you can still explore Uganda’s diversity using any of our wide range of day trips that visit other sites that are near the capital city Kampala or Entebbe international airport such as a Mabamba birding day trip to Mabamba island Kampala city tour day tour Jinja day tour and 1 day Ngamba island chimpanzee safari. Check out our great east Africa safari to such as Kenya safari tours and Tanzania safari tour that take you on an Africa wildlife safari adventure to Kenya and Tanzania respectively.
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