How to Book Congo Gorilla Permit in Virunga National Park

To go gorilla trekking in virunga national park, a Visitor is required to book gorilla permit or pass in order to visit the Mountain Gorillas. The congo gorilla permits are sold by the virunga national park and its offering various support services like the visa processing, Transportation and Guiding services.

Find the various ways to enable you secure the congo gorilla permits as explained in this guide to virunga national park.

Detailed Gorilla permit Booking Procedure.

Booking Through Virunga National Park.

To book your gorilla permit (from out of Congo) you first have to contact Visit Virunga reservation office by email inquiring about availability of the dates you intend to track the gorillas.
Incase they delay to reply to you, Relax they will get back to you and its only Congo that can always have the availability of the Gorilla permit irrespective of it being peak season or low season, rest assured of getting the Gorilla permit but don’t expect scanned copies.
You then reply to them expressing your intent to book gorilla permits on the mentioned dates and then you will be provided the banking details to make payment and the reservation of the lodge and the gorilla permit will help you when applying for the Congo Visa as they will send you a form to be fill for the Visa.Please remember to immediately send a copy of the transaction voucher/ receipt by email or Visit Virunga.

Please ensure that you instruct your bank to deduct the bank charges from you. Otherwise is the money sent is less, your permit may not be booked.

Booking Gorilla Permits through a Tour Operator

Many Travelers that plan for gorilla trekking in Congo can secure the Gorilla permit through the Tour operator or safari company and this is due to the fact that gorilla watchers find the above System very complicated and hard to achieve and then resort to acquire their Gorilla permit through Congo Safari Companies.

Congo Safari Companies will not charge you for buying gorilla permits if you are getting other tour services (like transfers and tours) through them but if you only would like them to help you acquire the gorilla permit alone, then charges may apply to help secure a gorilla permit or Nyiragongo permit.

The procedure is almost similar as above, except that the tour agencies tend to speed-up the process and most likely you will get you gorilla permit confirmation faster.

Contact the Tour Operator and let them know of the dates you want to travel to Congo with the days you want to see the Mountain gorilla or Climbing Nyiragongo.
They will let you know if the days you want for your gorilla tour are available for gorilla tracking and tentatively book them for you .
They send the our bank details for you to send the money for gorilla permits and Visa if Included in the price.
It takes about 3-4 Days for them to receive the money from your bank and pay for your permits. Please ensure you pay the bank charges when authorizing the transaction.
Send us your passport details to register your gorilla permits. Usually, we only need the Full names, passport number, and nationality.

As soon as the payment has been received, the permits for gorilla tracking be purchased. Getting a gorilla permit is a guarantee of seeing a Mountain gorillas in Virunga National park.

Costs for gorilla permits:

USD $400 per person for non-nationals
USD $150 for Congolese residents
USD $ 200 for SADC nationals

The fees are inclusive of park entry fees. This does not include the transportation from the registration and orientation site to the hiking departure point or trail head. This point may be up to 25 miles away.

We recommend you also hire a porter at an additional cost of $15 per trek, as they will help carry your day pack, assist you trekking when necessary, and it provides additional income to the local community.