DR CONGO

Another “wow” country! Visit Virunga National Park if you get the chance. Active volcanoes, silverback gorillas, exploding methane lake, and the most awesomely incredibly bad roads I’ve ever experienced … be prepared to be shaken and stirred in every possible direction, sometimes several directions at once.

Democratic Republic of Congo is huge — half the size of the continental United States — and stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the high Virunga Mountains in the east, where the mountain gorillas live. A visit to Virunga National Park to see the mountain gorillas and Mount Nyiragongo with the largest lava lake in the world is an absolute bucket list trip.

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