Bukavu · CD

Kahuzi-Biega National Park

Kahuzi-Biega National Park, on the western shore of Lake Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, holds a distinction no other protected area on Earth can offer: it is the only place where you can track Grauer's gorillas—the world's largest primate, also called the eastern lowland gorilla—in the wild. Set beneath two dormant volcanoes that lend the park its name, Mount Kahuzi (3,308 m) and Mount Biega (2,790 m), the park was created in 1970 and recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980 for its Outstanding Universal Value. Spanning nearly 6,000 km² across three provinces, Kahuzi-Biega shelters an estimated 23% of the planet's remaining Grauer's gorillas, alongside forest elephants, chimpanzees, pangolins, grey parrots and hundreds of endemic bird and plant species. For a traveler willing to venture into the Albertine Rift, it rewards with an encounter that is intimate, rare and genuinely once-in-a-lifetime—followed by volcano hikes and jungle trails that open onto sweeping views of Lake Kivu.