Hi I'm Danny! I'm travelling around the world! Follow me.
Today we arrived at Virunga National Park in The Democratic Republic Of Congo.
After the genocide that I mentioned in yesterdays post there was a mass exodus of Refugees to The Congo, which in turn sparked a 20 year civil war. During this whole period tourism was basically killed off. Since the rebels in the Congo have fled, the country is coming back under more control.
The team at Virunga National Park have been working hard to promote tourism in the Congo and in turn using this money to proect the mountain gorillas.
One of my favourite documentaries of all time is about Virunga, and the hard working rangers who put their lives on the line protecting the park from poachers and rebels. The allegations against SOCO are hard to ignore - they plan to infiltrate the park, working with the M23 rebels, to dig for oil.
The rangers are the last line of defence for this beautiful place.
We stayed in a lodge on the border of Virungu national park that was run by the local tourism board. It was crazy to see how agriculture is slowly encroaching on the land (see the first picture below). What was once rainforest has now been taken over.
The importance of looking after the mountain gorillas that call this place home is more important than ever.
Follow me here and check my old posts!
Bonito's beautiful waters
The 2000 year old sinkhole | Underground Cave Diving | Untouched Blue Caves | Floating Down the River | Ziplines into crystal clear water | Bonito is absolutely Stunning | 50 SBD Giveaway!
Columbia & Trekking to the hidden city
First thoughts about Columbia | Trekking to the hidden city (Day 2) | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Trekking to the hidden city (50 SBD Giveaway!)
The Pantanal Wetlands and Wildlife
My Trip to The Pantanal | Swimming With Caiman | Giant Guinea Pigs | Photographing Blue Macaws | We got attacked my Howler Monkeys! | 50 SBD Giveaway
