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Rwenzori Mountains National Park is a Ugandan
The park is owned by the Ugandan government through Uganda National Parks. It is protected, although extraction may be sanctioned by a board of trustees. Kasese, 437 km (260 mi) west of Uganda's capital Kampala, is the gateway to the park. The town has hotels and lodges, while the park has camping, a good trail network, and huts for hikers. The park has trekking and climbing routes, several with unusual scenery. The most popular trek is a seven-day circuit of the park.
File:Ruwenzori Lake Kitandara.jpg, Lake Kitandra
File:Mt.Speke2008.jpg, Mount Speke
File:Loxodontacyclotis.jpg, African Forest Elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis'')
File:Tree-hyrax.jpg, Southern tree hyrax (''Dendrohyrax arboreus'')
File:Gombe Stream NP Mutter und Kind.jpg, Eastern chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii'')
File:Multi-male unit of Rwenzori colobus in Nyungwe .jpg, Black-and-white colobus monkeys (''Simia polycomos'')
File:L'Hoest's monkey (Cercopithecus lhoesti).jpg, L'Hoest's monkey (''Allochrocebus lhoesti'')
File:GallirexJohnstoniKeulemans.jpg, Ruwenzori turaco (''Gallirex johnstoni'')
File:Scadoxus cyrtanthiflorus B.jpg, ''
Rwenzori Mountains National Park
Uganda Wildlife Authority * {{authority control Rwenzori Mountains National parks of Uganda World Heritage Sites in Uganda Bundibugyo District Kabarole District Kasese District Protected areas established in 1991 1991 establishments in Uganda Ramsar sites in Uganda Important Bird Areas of Uganda World Heritage Sites in Danger Albertine Rift montane forests
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 ...
and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Rwenzori Mountains. Almost in size, the park has Africa's third highest mountain peak and many waterfalls, lakes, and glaciers. The park is known for its beautiful plant life.
History
Rwenzori Mountains National Park was established in 1991. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 because of its outstanding natural beauty. Rebel militias occupied the Rwenzori Mountains from 1997 to June 2001. The park was inscribed on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger between 1999 and 2004 because of insecurity and a lack of resources in the park.Geography
Rwenzori Mountains National Park is located in south-western Uganda on the east side of the western (Albertine)African rift valley
The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. In the past it was considered to be part of ...
. It lies along Uganda's border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and borders the DRC's Virunga National Park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for . It is situated in the Bundibugyo, Kabarole
Kabarole District is a district in Western Uganda. Kabarole District is part of the Kingdom of Toro. Its main town was Fort Portal before 1st July 2020 when it was elevated to a city, separating it from Kabarole district Government.
The new Kaba ...
, and Kasese districts, from the small city of Kasese. It is in size, 70 percent of which exceeds an altitude of . The park is long and wide.
The park includes most of the centre and eastern half of the Rwenzori Mountains, a mountain range rising above dry plains located just north of the equator. Those mountains are higher than the Alps and are ice-capped. Mount Stanley is located in the park. Margherita Peak, one of Mount Stanley's twin summits, is Africa's third highest peak with a height of . Africa's fourth and fifth highest peaks ( Mount Speke and Mount Baker) are also located in the park. The park has glaciers, snowfields, waterfalls, and lakes and is one of Africa's most beautiful mountain areas.
Conservation and tourism
The park is owned by the Ugandan government through Uganda National Parks. It is protected, although extraction may be sanctioned by a board of trustees. Kasese, 437 km (260 mi) west of Uganda's capital Kampala, is the gateway to the park. The town has hotels and lodges, while the park has camping, a good trail network, and huts for hikers. The park has trekking and climbing routes, several with unusual scenery. The most popular trek is a seven-day circuit of the park.
Biodiversity
The park has many species that are endemic to the Albertine Rift system, and there are several endangered species in the park. It has a high diversity of plants and trees. The park is noted for its botany, which has been described as some of the most beautiful in the world. There are five distinct vegetation zones in the park, which change according to changes in altitude. The park has 89 species of birds, 15 species of butterfly, and four primate species. The park's wildlife varies with elevation, and its species include the forest elephant,chimpanzee
The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...
, hyrax
Hyraxes (), also called dassies, are small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Typically, they measure between long and weigh between . They are superficially simil ...
, black-and-white colobus
Black-and-white colobuses (or colobi) are Old World monkeys of the genus ''Colobus'', native to Africa. They are closely related to the red colobus monkeys of genus '' Piliocolobus''. There are five species of this monkey, and at least eight subs ...
, L'Hoest's monkeys, Ruwenzori duiker, and Rwenzori turaco.
Gallery
Landscape
Fauna
Flora
Scadoxus cyrtanthiflorus
''Scadoxus cyrtanthiflorus'' is a herbaceous plant endemic to the Rwenzori Mountains of east tropical Africa. Unusually for the genus ''Scadoxus'' its tubular blooms are pendant. It is sometimes grown as an ornamental plant in heated greenhouses.
...
'' (cultivated plant)
File:Scadoxus cyrtanthiflorus A.jpg, ''Scadoxus cyrtanthiflorus'' inflorescence detail (Amaryllidaceae
The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus ''Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryllis fa ...
)
File:1172 ruwenzori.jpg , '' Dendrosenecio adnivalis'' ( Asteraceae)
File:Kosso-2.jpg, ''Hagenia abyssinica'' (tree)
File:Hagenia abyssinica - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-208.jpg, '' Hagenia abyssinica'', anatomical detail (Rosaceae
Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera.
The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are ''Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...
)
File:Symphonia globulifera L. f.jpg, '' Symphonia globulifera'' (tree)
File:Symphonia globulifera L. f. - Flickr - Alex Popovkin, Bahia, Brazil (1).jpg, ''Symphonia globulifera'' inflorescence detail ( Clusiaceae)
File:Hypericum revolutum.jpg, ''Hypericum revolutum
''Hypericum revolutum'' is a shrub or small tree in the genus ''Hypericum'' native to Arabia and Africa. It is evergreen, with leaves opposite, closely spaced and crowded at the ends of branches, c. 20 × 5 mm, green to slightly glaucous, se ...
'' in bloom ( Hypericaceae)
File:Syzygium guineense 25188238.jpg, ''Syzygium guineense
''Syzygium guineense'' ( bm, Kokisa) is a leafy forest tree of the family Myrtaceae, found in many parts of Africa both wild and domesticated. Both its fruits and leaves are edible; the pulp and the fruit skin are sucked and the seed discarded. I ...
'' (tree)
File:Syzygium guineense 71895621.jpg, ''Syzygium guineense
''Syzygium guineense'' ( bm, Kokisa) is a leafy forest tree of the family Myrtaceae, found in many parts of Africa both wild and domesticated. Both its fruits and leaves are edible; the pulp and the fruit skin are sucked and the seed discarded. I ...
'' fruits (Myrtaceae
Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...
)
File:La Palma - El Paso - LP-301 - Llano del Jable - Erica arborea 01 ies.jpg, '' Erica arborea'' mature specimen
File:Erica arborea JPG1.jpg, '' Erica arborea'', inflorescence detail, ( Ericaceae)
File:Bamboo zone.jpg, Giant African bamboo species '' Yushania alpina'' (Poaceae
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
)References
External links
Rwenzori Mountains National Park
Uganda Wildlife Authority * {{authority control Rwenzori Mountains National parks of Uganda World Heritage Sites in Uganda Bundibugyo District Kabarole District Kasese District Protected areas established in 1991 1991 establishments in Uganda Ramsar sites in Uganda Important Bird Areas of Uganda World Heritage Sites in Danger Albertine Rift montane forests