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Virunga National Park
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.
In the wake of the war in neighbouring Rwanda and the subsequent massive influx of refugees from that country which led to massive deforestation and poaching at the site. Many members of the Park staff had not been remunerated for almost a year. Poaching of wildlife has continued and the staff lacks the means of patrolling the Park's 650 km long boundary. The human population in the fishing village near Lake Edward has increased several fold, posing a serious threat to the integrity of the Park. The fuel wood requirements of almost one million refugees camping inside the Park is estimated at 600 metric tons/day and is leading to widespread depletion of forests in the lowlands.
Fortunately, the mountain gorilla whose habitat is at a higher altitude, have been spared so far. From the daily monitoring of the research and tourism gorilla groups, and the sightings of wild groups, it appears that the current population stands at a minimum of 359 known gorillas. This figure is most likely an underestimate, with more individuals to be counted, and it represents a significant increase from the 1989 census. This can be directly traced to the sheer dedication of field staff operating on the ground. Park rangers and trackers, many of whom have been killed or wounded while on duty in Rwanda and Congo, have been patrolling the forest continuously throughout the years of civil unrest. This dedicated work has limited the damage to the habitat and the population of gorillas.
PHYSICAL FEATURES The park includes: part of Lake Edward (Idi Amin), the Semliki River valley, parts of the Rwindi, Ishasha and Rutshuru valleys south of the lake, the Virunga area within former Zaïre, and part of the Rwenzori range. Lake Edward belongs to the Nile river system and Lake Kivu to the Congo Basin river system. Features include hot springs in the Rwindi plains and the Virunga Massif volcanoes, some such as Nyamulagira and Nyiragongo are still active. The areas of lowest and highest rainfall in Zaïre are in Virunga National Park - under 75km apart and ranging from 500mm at Lake Edward to over 3,000mm on the west slope of Mt Rwenzori. The considerable altitudinal range results in marked climatic variations which affect the overall biological and geographical diversity of habitats. Habitat types include: lakes at various altitudes, marshy deltas and peat bogs, savannas and lava plains, low altitude equatorial forest, high altitude glaciers, and snow fields (the Rwenzori peaks have permanent snow cover).
VEGETATION Located at the border between several biogeographical zones, the park protects both tropical rain forest and eastern steppe species, and its range of altitudes adds to the habitat variety. The diversity includes: bamboo and Hagenia forest on the mountains; equatorial forest along the Semiliki; wooded savanna of the Rwindi; steppes of Carissa, Capparis, Maerua and Euphorbia calycina; various low savannas including Themeda, Imperata, Pennisetum, Hyparrhenia, Acacia sieberana, A. hebeclada and Combretum; swamps and transitional habitats including Craterostigma prairies and Sporobolus savanna; dry thick forest of Euphorbia dawei; Neoboutonia macrocalyx forest on the lava plains; wet thick forest; white heath of Erica, Philippia, Podocarpus latifolius, Hypericum ruwenzoriense, Hagenia abyssinica and Rapanea pellucido-striata; alpine forests of Dendrosenecio and giant Lobelia; and sparse vegetation above 4,300m comprising mainly lichens and spermatophyta, although Graminae have been found growing at over 5,000m.
FAUNA Some of the largest wild animal concentrations in Africa occur along the rivers of the park. Mammals in the savanna of the Rwindi area include: elephant Loxodonta africana (EN) numbering, in the southern part of the park, 3,000 in 1960, 674 in 1971, 800 in 1972, 780 in 1973, 631 in 1980, 500 in 1988 (Verschuren, 1988) and 469 in 1990 (Said et al., 1995), hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius, buffalo Syncerus caffer (LR), numerous antelope including kob Kobus kob (LR), defassa waterbuck K. ellipsiprymnus defassa (LR) and topi Damaliscus lunatus (LR), warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus, lion Panthera leo (VU), which have increased in numbers from 1960 to the late 1980s in contrast to many other large mammal species, and various monkeys. Large numbers of pelicans Pelecanus sp. occur on the lower Rutshuru. In the Semiliki Valley and on the slopes of the Virunga mountains are gorilla Gorilla gorilla berengei (CR) (about 140 were recorded in the Zaire Virungas in 1980 and 280 in 1986 (Verschuren, 1988), chimpanzee Pan troglodytes (EN), and okapi Okapia johnstoni (LR). In the extreme north are forest hog Hylochoerus meinertzhageni and bongo Tragelaphus euryceros (LR). Birds include: Nahan's francolin Francolinus nahani (DD), forest ground thrush Zoothera oberlaenderi (LR), shoebill Balaeniceps rex (LR) and probably papyrus yellow warbler Chloropeta gracilirostris (VU).
VISITORS AND VISITOR FACILITIES Accommodation is available at Rwindi and Djomba. Modest accommodation is also available at Mabenga and Kanyabayonga. 7,160 people visited the park in 1988 of which 2,324 were from former Zaïre. Verschuren (1988) makes several recommendations concerning visitor reception and activities.
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posted to World Heritage Sites. at Sun Feb 01 12:53:55 EST 2004.
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