• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
Virunga National Park occupies a large area encompassing a variety of habitats. It is situated in north-eastern DR Congo, and is contiguous with Semliki, Rwenzori and Queen Elizabeth National Parks and Mgahinga Gorilla Park (IBAs UG009, UG005, UG007 and UG001 respectively) in Uganda and Volcans National Park in Rwanda (RW002). It extends from the Rwenzori range, south through Lake Edward (the DR Congo part of which is entirely contained within the park) and the chain of volcanoes, just north of the town of Goma, to Lake Kivu. Some of the volcanoes are still active; Nyiragongo, the highest on the DR Congo side of the border, last erupted in 1977. Altitudes vary between 798 m in the lower plains and 3,470 m on the top of the Nyiragongo, to 5,110 m on Margherita Peak (Mount Stanley), Africa’s third-highest mountain, in the Rwenzori range. Rainfall is equally diverse, averaging between 500 mm per year at Lake Edward to more than 3,000 mm on the slopes of the Rwenzori. The variety of altitudes, soils and rainfall produces very diverse habitats, comprising lakes, marshy deltas and peatbogs, grasslands and wooded savanna, lava-plains, transition forest, montane rainforest, bamboo forest and high-altitude areas with Hagenia, Lobelia, Dendroscenecio, Erica and Philippia and, finally, glaciers and snow-fields. A significant portion of the Semliki Forest, shared with Uganda, occurs within the park, where it is known locally as the Watalinga forest. The steep western slopes of Rwenzori, which meet abruptly with the alluvial plain of the Semliki, are one of the wettest areas in the country, with frequent rain even during the ‘dry’ season and an average annual rainfall of more than 3,000 mm. Hot springs occur in the Rwindi plain. The park is known to support a greater biological diversity than any other single protected area in Africa. Agriculture and animal husbandry are the main economic activities of the region, an increasing amount of which occur within park limits. Fishing occurs on Lake Edward; several fisherman’s villages, of which Vitshumbi is the largest, are situated on the lake shores.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. Species of interest known to occur include Prionops alberti, Bradypterus graueri and Cryptospiza shelleyi. Other species of global conservation concern that may be expected to occur are Indicator pumilio, Coracina graueri, Malaconotus lagdeni, Chloropeta gracilirostris, Eremomela turneri and Nectarinia rockefelleri. Nectarinia stuhlmanni is only known from the Rwenzori range. Phoenicopterus minor has been observed several times at Lake Edward and has once made an unsuccessful breeding attempt (c.1,000 birds in 1974). In addition, one species of the Eastern DR Congo lowlands EBA and one of the Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome have been recorded (see Tables 2 and 3).

Non-bird biodiversity: In total, 177 mammal species have been identified and it is estimated that the actual number may approach 200, making Virunga National Park one of the richest protected areas for mammals in the world. About half of DR Congo’s mammal species occur in the park which covers about 0.3 % of the country’s surface. The park is renowned for its population of the endangered Gorilla gorilla beringei (CR). Other species include Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii (EN), Cercopithecus l’hoesti rutshuricus (LR/nt), C. hamlyni (LR/nt), Panthera leo (VU), Loxodonta africana (EN), Okapia johnstoni (LR/nt) and Tragelaphus euryceros (LR/nt). The population density of Hippopotamus amphibius used to be among the highest known.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Virunga National Park (Congo, The Democratic Republic of the). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/virunga-national-park-iba-congo-the-democratic-republic-of-the on 30/11/2024.