Volcanoes 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 ...
in northwestern
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
. It covers of
rainforest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
and encompasses five of the eight
volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
es in the
Virunga Mountains, namely
Karisimbi,
Bisoke,
Muhabura
Mount Muhabura, also known as Mount Muhavura, is an inactive volcano in the Virunga Mountains on the border between Rwanda and Uganda. At Muhabura is the third highest of the eight major mountains of the mountain range, which is a part of the Al ...
,
Gahinga
Mount Gahinga is a dormant/extinct volcano in the Virunga Mountains on the border between Rwanda and Uganda. Gahinga lies between Muhabura and Sabyinyo, but is the smallest of these three. Mount Gahinga, also known in the local Kinyarwanda/Rufumb ...
and
Sabyinyo
Mount Sabyinyo ("Sabyinyo" is derived from the Kinyarwanda word "Iryinyo", meaning "tooth"; also "Sabyinyo, Sabyinio") is an extinct volcano in eastern Africa in the Virunga Mountains. Mount Sabyinyo is the oldest volcano of the range. It is nort ...
. It borders
Virunga National Park in the
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
and
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is a national park in southwestern Uganda. It was created in 1991 and covers an area of .
Geography
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is located in the Virunga Mountains and encompasses three inactive volcanoes, name ...
in
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
. It is home to the
mountain gorilla
The mountain gorilla (''Gorilla beringei beringei'') is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN as of 2018.
There are two populations: One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central/ ...
and the
golden monkey
The golden monkey (''Cercopithecus kandti'') is a species of Old World monkey found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, including four national parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Vi ...
, and was the base for the primatologist
Dian Fossey.
History
The park was first gazetted in 1925, as a small area bounded by Karisimbi,
Bisoke and
Mikeno, intended to protect the gorillas from poachers. It was the very first National Park to be created in Africa. Subsequently, in 1929, the borders of the park were extended further into Rwanda and into the
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
Colo ...
, to form the Albert National Park, a huge area of 8090 km
2, run by the Belgian colonial authorities who were in charge of both colonies. In 1958, 700 hectares of the park were cleared for a human settlement.
Between 1969 and 1973, 1,050 hectares of the park were cleared to grow
pyrethrum.
[ORTPN (2004)]
Plan d’aménagement de Gestion du Parc National des Volcans.
Draft 2. Office of Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN), Kigali.
The park later became the base for the American naturalist
Dian Fossey to carry out her research into the gorillas. She arrived in 1967 and set up the Karisoke Research Centre between Karisimbi and Visoke. From then on she spent most of her time in the park, and is widely credited with saving the gorillas from extinction by bringing their plight to the attention of the international community. She was murdered by unknown assailants at her home in 1985, a crime often attributed to the poachers she had spent her life fighting against. Fossey's life later was portrayed on the big screen in the film ''
Gorillas in the Mist
''Gorillas in the Mist'' is a 1988 American drama film directed by Michael Apted and starring Sigourney Weaver as the naturalist Dian Fossey. It tells the story of her work in Rwanda with mountain gorillas and was nominated for five Academy Aw ...
'', named after her autobiography. She is buried in the park in a grave close to the research center, and amongst the gorillas which became her life.
The Volcanoes National Park became a battlefield during the
Rwandan Civil War
The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose ...
, with the park headquarters being attacked in 1992. The research centre was abandoned, and all tourist activities (including visiting the gorillas) were stopped. They did not resume again until 1999 when the area was deemed to be safe and under control. There have been occasional infiltrations by Rwandan rebels from the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda
The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (french: Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, FDLR) is an armed rebel group active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. As an ethnic Hutu group opposed to the ethnic Tuts ...
in subsequent years, but these are always stopped quickly by the Rwandan army and there is thought to be no threat to tourism in the park.
Buhanga Eco-Park, an ancient woodland containing Rwanda's most interesting folklore, and Musanze Caves, constructed 62 million years ago after the last estimated volcanic explosion, are both located inside the limits of Volcanoes National Park.
Flora and fauna
Flora
Vegetation varies considerably due to the large altitudinal range within the park. There is some lower montane forest (now mainly lost to agriculture). Between 2400 and 2500 m, there is ''Neoboutonia'' forest. From 2500 to 3200 m ''Arundinaria alpina'' (bamboo) forest occurs, covering about 30% of the park area. From 2600 to 3600 m, mainly on the more humid slopes in the south and west, is ''
Hagenia
''Hagenia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant with the sole species ''Hagenia abyssinica'', native to the high-elevation Afromontane regions of central and eastern Africa. It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East A ...
-Hypericum'' forest, which covers about 30% of the park. This is one of the largest forests of ''Hagenia abyssinica''. The vegetation from 3500 to 4200 m is characterised by ''Lobelia wollastonii'', ''L. lanurensis'', and ''Senecio erici-rosenii'' and covers about 25% of the park. From 4300 to 4500 m grassland occurs. Secondary thicket, meadows, marshes, swamps and small lakes also occur, but their total area is relatively small.
Fauna
The park is best known for the
mountain gorilla
The mountain gorilla (''Gorilla beringei beringei'') is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN as of 2018.
There are two populations: One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central/ ...
(''Gorilla beringei beringei''). Other mammals include:
golden monkey
The golden monkey (''Cercopithecus kandti'') is a species of Old World monkey found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, including four national parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Vi ...
(''Cercopithecus mitis kandti''), black-fronted duiker (''Cephalophus niger''), buffalo (''Syncerus caffer''),
spotted hyena
The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUC ...
(''Crocuta crocuta'') and bushbuck (''Tragelaphus scriptus''). The bushbuck population is estimated to be between 1760–7040 animals. There are also reported to be some elephants in the park, though these are now very rare. There are 178 recorded bird species, with at least 13 species and 16 subspecies endemic to the Virunga and
Rwenzori Mountains.
Volcanoes National Park Page
''United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre''
Expansion
In 2022, the Government of Rwanda announced plans to expand this national park from to . Of the new , park activities will expand into an estimated new and an estimated will be used to create a buffer zone
A buffer zone is a neutral zonal area that lies between two or more bodies of land, usually pertaining to countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them.
Common types of buffer zones are demil ...
between the national park and its fauna and flora and the surrounding human communities. The buffer zone will be used for agriculture, particularly agroforestry, which will benefit the park and the humans together. It is expected that this arrangement will reduce "human-wildlife conflicts by 80 percent". Work is expected to start in 2022 and last five years, working with a budget of US$255 million.
See also
* Dian Fossey
* Eugène Rutagarama
Eugène Rutagarama is an environmentalist from Rwanda. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2001, for his efforts on saving the population of mountain gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park in the Virungas mountains, during the war ...
References
External links
*
*
{{authority control
Biosphere reserves of Rwanda
Virunga Mountains
Volcanoes of Rwanda
National parks of Rwanda
Protected areas established in 1925
1925 establishments in Ruanda-Urundi
Albertine Rift montane forests