The Virunga National Park (French: Parc National des Virunga), formerly named Albert National Park, is a 7800 square km National Park that stretches from the Virunga Mountains in the South, to the Rwenzori Mountains in the North, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori Mountains National Park and Queen Elisabeth National Park in Uganda. The park was established in 1925 as Africa’s first national park. It was classified as a World Heritage Site in 1979. In recent years the park has become known for its mountain gorillas, although poaching and the Congo Civil War have seriously damaged its wildlife population. The park is managed by the Congolese National Park Authorities, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) and its partner the Africa Conservation Fund (UK) with whom ICCN signed a 10-year management agreement in February 2011. The park currently receives most of its funding from the European Union.





Over the twenty-five years that followed, the park staff endured an almost uninterrupted series of trials that included a refugee crisis from the Rwandan Genocide that contributed to the severe destruction of park forests, and armed militia penetration throughout the park. The Kivu War, the most recent of Congo’s conflicts, centered exactly on the park, with rebel forces occupying the park headquarters and evicting the park’s staff. By the end of 2008 it seemed as if Virunga was all but destroyed.


Tourism has increased from zero in 2008, to approximately to over 3000 in 2011 with numbers growing steadily. New tourist activities are being developed in the park, including the habituation of chimpanzees in the Tongo forest and a high-end lodge conveniently located near the center of the three main tourist attractions in the southern sector, north of Goma.



The park is known for its exceptional (bio)diversity, containing more bird, mammal and reptile species than any protected area on the African continent. Although mountain gorillas are now extremely rare and listed as one of the most critically endangered species, successful conservation work has helped to secure the remaining populations. Their populations actually increased during the years of political upheaval in the region (1994–2004), and have continued to do so even throughout the difficult period of 2007-2008. The 2010 Mountain Gorilla census has indicated that the conservation efforts of Virunga have been very successful regarding the Gorilla population. Both savanna and forest elephants as well as chimpanzees and low land gorillas can still be found in Virunga, along with Okapi, giraffes, buffaloes and many endemic birds. The neighbouring Mount Hoyo area was managed with the park and is home to a population of Bambuti Pygmy people, caves and waterfalls, but since the civil wars, the park has suffered somewhat. Land invasions and intense poaching have challenged the park authorities to the limit, but most rangers have remained active. Since 1994, about 140 rangers have been killed in the line of duty protecting the park from illegal poaching and land acquisition.[1] Amongst other military activity, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda or FDLR has been using the park as a safe location when they have come under sustained attack, such as Laurent Nkunda‘s offensives against them in April–May 2007.[2] The park was occupied by Nkunda’s forces on 26 October 2008, during the Battle of Goma.

Source: Wikipedia

The Virunga Park Under Siege


2 thoughts on “Virunga National Park

  1. It’s really good to gather information on the problematics touching upon the Virunga Parks, but what are you doing to lobby the government and make sure SOCO wont destroy what is left of the parks?

  2. Why would anyone try to take away the beauty of Earth? Why would anyone want to make the animals that habitat there extinct. The people that do want this are cruel and selfish. But if to think that they are going to uproot trees just to get to oil is wrong! Oil is NOT more important than making animals extinct. If people can’t understand this than they shouldn’t oppose to keeping the park the way it is. People have even died for this and if they were to take away the park than you might as well declare the people who died trying to save the park worthless.

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