Virunga National Park which was founded in 1925 as Albert National Park was the first national park to be established on the continent of Africa and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979 located in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Park was renamed Virunga National Park In 1969, nine years from the country's independence in 1960. The main reason for setting up this park was too primarily protect the mountain gorillas living in the forests of the Virunga Massif. At its establishment, Virunga National park had three volcanoes in the south but later expanded northward including the Rwenzori Mountains of the moon, Lake Edward and Rwindi plains.

The Congolese National Parks Authority, (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, ICCN), and the Virunga Foundation (then known as the Africa Conservation Foundation), entered into a partnership to manage the Park in 2008. This partnership birthed the Virunga Alliance an inventive development program to address the main causes of poverty and conflict, with the aim of eliminating illegal and damaging resource mining in the region.

Eastern Congo has been unstable for some time due to the impacts of war, armed conflict and the competition for the Virunga park natural resources has caused severe conflict in this region for over 20years. The park has a devoted team of 689 skilled rangers risking their lives on a day to day basis to guard the parks unique endangered mountain gorillas and wildlife.

Virunga national park is dedicated to supporting the four million people in the local communities around the park by creating work opportunities for them to earn a living concentrating on three significant areas; tourism, sustainable agriculture, fisheries, and hydropower. This inventive, community dedicated approach to conservation is working to reduce the pressures currently faced by the Park's Rangers from illegal poaching, land encroachment and armed groups.

Location

Virunga National Park is situated in the center of the Albertine Rift, between Rwanda and Uganda. Virunga has 7,800 square kilometers which stretch from the Virunga Massif in the south, to the Rwenzori Mountains in the north with the central sector is based around Lake Edward, the Ishasha river valley and the Rwindi plains. The southern sector of the Virunga's has mountain gorillas that live on the flanks of the dormant Mikeno volcano, active volcanoes, and montane tropical forests,

Gorilla facts

The Virunga National Park shelters one thousand of the remaining mountain gorillas live here. Mountain gorillas have thick hair, an adaptation which protects them against the sub-zero temperatures often encountered at altitudes of 14,000 feet compared to their eastern lowland cousins. Gorillas spend their time near the base of the mountains, where vegetation grows more densely. The air in the mountain's zones is moist and misty, leading them to be known as cloud forests.

Mountain Gorilla Conservation

Virunga National Park protects a significant proportion of the last remaining gorilla population, which represents over three hundred mountain gorillas. Mountain Gorillas are one of the rarest mammals on Earth. Conservation success is the result of intense collaboration between civil society state actors and the private sector of the three host countries of the Mountain Gorillas that is Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo. The tireless work of the park wardens is at heart of the conservation efforts as they closely monitor with continuous patrol effort, even in the midst of the most violent events. Some of the threats to the mountain gorillas include Poaching, Disease and Encroachment