Volcanoes National Park

Rwanda's park on the forested Virunga volcanoes, home to endangered mountain gorillas that visitors can track on foot.

The park was set up in 1925 and was the first national park created in Africa. It borders Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. Visitors come to see endangered mountain gorillas in the wild, and many walk on foot with trackers to find them.

How did the park begin?

The park started in 1925 as a small area near Karisimbi, Bisoke and Mikeno, set up to protect gorillas from poachers. In 1929 it was enlarged into Albert National Park, an area of 8,090 square kilometers that covered parts of Rwanda and the Belgian Congo. Later, parts of it were cleared for settlements and for growing pyrethrum, a plant used to make insecticide. In the 1970s and 1980s the Twa people were moved out of the park against their will.

Dian Fossey and the gorillas

The American scientist Dian Fossey came in 1967 and set up the Karisoke Research Centre between Karisimbi and Visoke. She spent most of her time in the park, and she is widely credited with helping save the gorillas from extinction by making the world aware of their trouble. She was murdered in 1985. Her life was shown in the film Gorillas in the Mist, named after her book. Fighting during the Rwandan Civil War in the 1990s stopped tourism for some years.

On the globe

The model shows the forested Virunga volcanoes where mountain gorillas live. Look for the green volcano cones.