A group of western trekking tourists together with their local porters and guides descencing from the crater rim of Nyiragongo Volcano in Virunga National Park in January 2016.

© guenterguni/Getty Images/iStock


Perhaps DRC's most magnificent single sight, active volcano Nyiragongo soars above the city of Goma and the surrounding Virunga National Park and sends plumes of smoke into the sky, before becoming a flaming beacon visible for miles around after sundown. The trek to the top is an absolutely unmissable experience (when the park is open to visitors), with those who undertake the five-hour climb being rewarded with views into the volcano's explosive lava lake below.

When operations resume after the park's indefinite closure, access to the volcano is only via travel agencies in Goma who arrange the trip through the Virunga National Park.


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