Virunga National Park (covering an area of 790,000 ha) comprises an outstanding diversity of habitats, ranging from swamps and steppes to the snowfields of Rwenzori at an altitude of over 5,000 m, and from lava plains to the savannahs on the slopes of volcanoes. Mountain gorillas are found in the park, some 20,000 hippopotamuses live in the rivers and birds from Siberia spend the winter there.

Virunga National Park is unique with its active chain of volcanoes and rich diversity of habitats that surpass those of any other African park. Its range contains an amalgamation of steppes, savannas and plains, marshlands, low altitude and afro-montane forest belts to unique afro-alpine vegetation and permanent glaciers and snow on Monts Rwenzori whose peaks culminate in 5000 m height.

The property includes the spectacular massifs of Rwenzori and Virunga Mountains containing the two most active volcanoes of Africa. The wide diversity of habitats produces exceptional biodiversity, notably endemic species and rare and globally threatened species such as the mountain gorilla.

The Park is characterized by a mosaic of extraordinary habitats that extend over 790,000 ha. The property is clearly delineated by the 1954 Ordinance. The wealth is well protected despite the economic and demographic challenges to its periphery.

The recent clashes between national park rangers and suspected Rwandan rebels in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo has brought the the 'Virunga National Park' in the news for all the wrong reason. The ongoing civil war together with poaching have have considerably ruined the flora and fauna of this UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site.

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• The click here for more information about <a rel="nofollow" onclick="javascript:ga('send', 'pageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link/6898343');" href="/links/?u=http://www.erewise.com/">Virunga National Park</a> is situated in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo bordering Rwanda and Uganda.

• The park, earlier known as Albert National Park, came up as the Africa's first national park in 1925.

• The, largest park of the continent, is home to thousands of rhinos and 200 endangered mountain gorillas.

• DR Congo's only population of endangered mountain gorillas reside here.

Person in News:

• Google recently paid homage to famed American zoologist Dian Fossey by marking her 82nd birth anniversary with a doodle on January 16th.

Facts

• She did an extensive study of gorilla groups for 18 years in the mountain forests of Rwanda. 

• She, inspired by the anthropologist Louis Leakey, studied them on a daily basis till her last breath.

• She is still considered one of the three most prominent researchers on primates in addition to Jane Goodall, who worked with chimpanzees, and Birute Galdikas, who worked with orangutans.

• She, known as a ‘Trimate' due to the distinction mentioned above, was murdered in Rwanda in 1985.