Kahuzi-Biega National Park is located in the Southern Province of DR Congo after the busy town of Bukavu. The Park is famously known to offer remarkable Eastern Lowland Gorilla Trekking Adventures to all travelers on safari vacation in the DR Congo. The Park covers parts of the provinces in South Kivu, Maniema and North Kivu. The Park covers an area of 6,000 km² (i.e., some 600,000 ha) elevating approximately more than 600 m to 3,300 m above sea level including both lowland tropical rainforest and high-elevation montane forest, as well as two extinct volcanoes: Mount Kahuzi (~3,308 m) and Mount Biega (~2,790 m).
The park’s terrain is highly varied from humid lowland rainforest at about 600 m elevation to sub-alpine vegetation on the volcano summits. There are two main zones i.e the mountainous part and a lowland part which are connected by a narrow corridor. There are also vegetation zones i.e swamp, peat bogs, high altitude rainforests, bamboo forest and sub alpine heather. There are also 1,178 plant species, Vegetation types ranging from flat lowland forests (678-1,250 m), sub-montane (1,250-1,700 m), mountain (1,700-2,600 m), and afro-subalpine (2,600 m). Other than the Eastern Lowland Gorillas, travelers can watch the chimpanzees, red tailed monkeys, colobus monkeys, Hamlyn’s monkey as well as bird species i.e 349 bird species have been recorded with 42 being endemic to the Albertine Rift Region
Gorilla Trekking in the park is the most famous safari adventure offering you a chance to trek the Eastern Lowland Gorillas in their natural forest vegetation habitat. You shall transfer to the park headquarters for short briefing on conduct around the Gorillas as given by the park rangers. He shall inform you about the Park, Eastern Lowland Gorilals and the activities you can do in the park. Afterwards, he shall allocate you into groups of 8 with lead park rangers who transfer you to the starting points where you leave from to enter the green forest to trek the Gorillas for a period of 3 to 5 hours following the trails. After a while, you shall meet them and stay in their presence taking various photos to keep with you. After trekking the Gorillas, you shall return to the headquarters to pick you trekking certificate.
Bird watching is an exceptional safari adventure to do in the park as birders get a chance to watch various bird spceies as they fly around their natural forest vegetation habitats. There are over 349 bird species and some of these include; Ruwenzori turaco, Grauer’s broadbill, Yellow-crested helmet-shrike, Archer’s robin-chat, Congo peacock (rare sighting).
Hiking Mount Kahuzi (3,308 m) & Mount Biega (2,790 m) is exceptional to be carried out in the park offering you a chance to get to the top of these Mountain Volcanoes. Hiking along Mount Kahuzi is very steep and challenging following through montane forest and bamboo zones offering scenic views of Lake Kivu, Congo Basin and Bukavu. The hike takes you a period of 6–8 hours till you reach the top. Other than Mount Kahuzi, hikers can get on Mount Biega which takes 5 to 6 hours to get done. This is more rugged and less visited although ideal for adventurous hikers.
Nature Walks & Forest Hikes are awesome to do in the Park and these are precise and guided as you explore varying forest zones ranging from lowland rainforest, bamboo forest and swamp vegetation. On your walks, you shall watch various primates like colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, small mammals, butterflies, orchids, and medicinal plants. Some trails in the Park take you to waterfalls for a period of 2 to 3 hours watching the green terrain, bird species, etc.
Kahuzi Biega National Park can be visited anytime around the year although the best time to visit the park is during the short rain and dry season in the months of June–September & December–February as the trails are dry and navigable as well as photography is clear.