Volcanoes National Park
Volcanoes National Park (Le Parc National Des Volcans):
“In the Heart of Central Africa, so high up that you shiver more than you sweat”, wrote the eminent primatologist Dan Fossey, “are great, old volcanoes towering up almost 15,000 feet, and nearly covered with rich, green rainforest - the Virunga”.
Ranging in altitude from 2400km to 4507 the Volcanoes National Park is conquered by the setting of volcanoes. This chain of steep, all free standing mountains linked by fertile saddles which were formed by solidifiedAÿ lava flows , is one of the most stirring and memorable sights in East Africa.
Size:
Volcanoes National Park is 160km and it protects the Rwandan sector of the Virunga Mountains, range of six extinct and three active volcanoes which straddles the borders with Uganda and the DRC. The Volcanoes Park is part of a contiguous 433km Trans frontier conservation unit that also includes the Virunga National Park and Mgahinga National Park, which protects the DRC and Ugandan sectors of the Virunga respectively.
Location:
The park is situated in the far northwest of Rwanda.
Getting There:
The easiest way of reaching Volcanoes Park is Musanze formerly known as Ruhengeri, which can easily be reached on public transport from Gisenyi, Kigali on the day you track. You need to be at the ORTPN office in Kinigi, by the park entrance, by 07.00, but this isn’t a reliable option incase you are using public transport. There is no public transport between Musanze and the park headquarters at Kinigi
Famous For:
Mountain Gorillas:
Situated in the far northwest of Rwanda, the parc des volcans protects the steep slops of this mountain range - home of the rare mountain gorilla and the rich mosaic of montane ecosystems, which embrace ever green and bamboo forest, open grassland, swamp and heath.
The Volcanoes National Park is best known to the outside world as the place where almost for 20years the American primatologist Dian Fossey under took her pioneering studies of mountain gorilla behaviour. Three years after her death, Fossey’s life work was exposed to a mass audience with the release of Gorilla in the mist, a cinematic account of her life filmed on location in the Volcanoes Park.
Gorilla in the Mist drew global attention to the plight of the mountain gorilla and generated unprecedented interest in the gorilla tourism programme that had been established in the park some ten years earlier. In 1990, the Volcanoes Park was the best organized and most popular gorilla sanctuary in Africa and gorilla tourism was probably Rwanda’s leading earner of tourist revenue
The park reopened to tourism in June 1993, but it was evacuated in April 1994 because of the genocide. Later in 1995, it once again reopened to tourism, only to close again a few months later.Aÿ Gorilla tracking was finally resumed on a permanent basis in July 1999, since when the number of tourists visiting the Virungas had increased rapidly.
Other famous attractions:
Ranging in altitude from 2400km to 4507 the Volcanoes National Park is conquered by the setting of volcanoes. This chain of steep, all free standing mountains linked by fertile saddles which were formed by solidified lava flows , is one of the most stirring and memorable sights in East Africa .
Karisimbi is the tallest mountain in the chain which is found on the border with the DRC. Moving eastward, the other main peaks within the national park are Visoke on the DRC border; Sabinyo at the juncture of Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC, and Gahinga and Muhabura on the Uganda border.
Also present are giant forest hog, elephant and buffalo, bush pig, bushbuck, black-fronted duiker, and spotted hyena, and several varieties of small predator. Recent extinctions, probably as a result of deforestation, include the massive yellow-backed duiker and leopard.
Visitor Activities:
Gorilla Tracking:
Gorilla tracking remains the most popular in the park, with over a total of 40 permits issued daily, eight for each of the five habituated troops.
Trekking and Hiking:
An exhilarating trek through the cultivated foothills of the virunga offers stirring views in all directions. Take that trek in to the mysterious intimacy if rainforest, alive with the calls of colourfull birds and chattering of rare golden monkey, littered with fresh spoor of the mountains’ elusive population of buffalo and elephant. Thrugh gaps in the forest canopy, the magnificent peaks are glimpsed, easily accessible and among the highest in Africa.
Visitors stand a high chance of hiking.Aÿ For the less energetic, walks of about two and a half hours costing US$30 to the nearer crater lakes and in the forest are thoroughly enjoyable and will be particularly rewarding to birdwatchers
Bird watching:
Volcanoes National Park has a total of 180 species with 15 recent recorded species which were noted during a 2004 biodiversity survey.
At least 16 Albertine Rift endemic are present, including handsome francolin, Rwenzori turaco, Rwenzori double collared sunbird, Rwenzori batis, strange weaver, dusky crimson-wing, collared apalis, red-faced woodl
The bustling market town of Ruhengeri has a memorable setting at the base of the virungas. On the outskirts of the town, the natural bridge at Musanze ‘a solidified lava flow’ is fascinating relic of the volcanic activity that shaped this scenic area.
One may decide to visit Dian Fossey’s Tomb and adjacent gorilla cemetery at the former Karisoke Research Camp.
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