Ruvubu National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

covering that was established in 1980. Its borders fall within the provinces of Karuzi,

Muyinga Muyinga is a city located in northern Burundi. It is the capital city of Muyinga Province Muyinga Province is one of the 18 provinces of Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili: '' ...

, Cankuzo and Ruyigi. The park touches neighboring Tanzania to the south, the valley of the Ruvubu River whose landscape dominates this area. The Ruvubu National Park gets its name from the

Ruvubu River The Ruvubu River (also spelt Rurubu and Ruvuvu) is a river in central Africa whose waters gather from the most distant, southern portion of the Nile Drainage basin, basin. With a total length of and has a drainage basin of . It rises in the nort ...

which runs through the length of the park. The park is the last vestige of the natural grassland ecosystem which once covered the vast majority of the northeast part of Burundi. It is home to a number of wildlife species, most notably

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern ...

, Cape buffalo,

waterbuck The waterbuck (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus'') is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus '' Kobus'' of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. Its 13 subspecies ar ...

, numerous

duiker A duiker is a small to medium-sized brown antelope native to sub-Saharan Africa, found in heavily wooded areas. The 22 extant species, including three sometimes considered to be subspecies of the other species, form the subfamily Cephalophina ...

species, five primate species, including olive baboon, vervet monkey,

red colobus monkey Red colobuses are Old World monkeys of the genus ''Piliocolobus''. It was formerly considered a subgenus within the genus ''Procolobus'', which is now restricted to the olive colobus. They are closely related to the black-and-white colobus monkey ...

, blue monkey, and Senegal bushbaby. Approximately 200 species of birds were recorded in the park.

References

National parks of Burundi Ramsar sites in Burundi Central Zambezian miombo woodlands {{Africa-protected-area-stub