Akagera National Park
The Akagera National Park (also Kagera National Park ) is located in the east of the central African state of Rwanda on the border with Tanzania , south of the so-called "north knee" of the Akagera, also called Kagera-Nile as an indication of its source flow function for the Nile , in one to to 15 km wide and 150 to 200 km long swampy and lake-rich ditches through which the river flows.
This river / lake landscape was created as a result of the eruptions of the Virunga volcanoes in the Tertiary, which made direct drainage of the Rwandan river system towards Lake Victoria difficult. It is of particular interest because much of it is covered by floating islands of papyrus . Otherwise it is an open tree savannah on multi-tiered hill country with more or less rich stands of umbrella acacia ; There are gallery forests along the course of the river . The park area at an altitude of 1250 to 1825 m originally largely corresponded to the distribution area of the tse-tse fly in Rwanda, so that there was no competition between agricultural use and nature conservation for many years.
The park was founded in 1934 by the then colonial power Belgium, which ruled Rwanda with a mandate from the League of Nations , on an area of 2,500 km². Together with the adjacent protected areas in Uganda and Tanzania, it formed a larger protected ecosystem between Lake Victoria and the Central African Rift .
Until the early 1990s, the park was very rich in game and was home to herds of buffalo, significant populations of impalas , topis , zebras , waterbuck , eland and other large game. Lions could often be seen, less often leopards . Numerous hippos and Nile crocodiles live along the lakes and rivers . The number of around 500 bird species is also impressive, including the shoebill and the red-faced bearded bird . The park was developed for tourism via two hotels, of which the Akagera Hotel in the south of the national park near Lake Ihema has been preserved.
Population pressure increased significantly in the late 1980s. In addition to the reduction in the park area, the civil war of the 1990s and the refugee camps built in the park area also had a very negative impact on the ecosystem. Today the park covers an area of approx. 900 km².
The American Wildlife Conservation Society started a project in 2005 to study the impact of elephant populations on the development of the ecosystem. Until the 1990s, elephants only lived in a small, demarcated area in the park.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Notes on geography, flora, fauna and demography / Eberhard Fischer, Harald Hinkel, in: Löber, 1991/1995, p. 14
literature
- Fischer, Eberhard: Nature of Rwanda - La Nature du Rwanda : Introduction to the flora and fauna of Rwanda / Eberhard Fischer, Harald Hinkel. - Mainz, 1992. - ISBN 3-920615-15-8 . - Materials on the Rhineland-Palatinate-Rwanda partnership.
- Loebner, Ulrich: Rwanda : Accompanying publication to the traveling exhibition of the same name at the Landesmuseum Koblenz / Ed. By Ulrich Loebner and Elisabeth Rickal. - 2nd edition 1995. - Koblenz, 1991.
- Vandeweghe, Jean Pierre: Akagera: Land of water, grass and fire / Jean Pierre Vande weghe. With collaboration of Thérèse Abandibakobwa, José Kalpers ao Photography by Philippe Dejace. Translated by Alicia L. Spruijt-Ray. - Brussels: World Wildlife Fund for Nature, 1990
Web links
- Wildlife Conservation Society ( Memento from October 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 1 ° 38 ′ S , 30 ° 47 ′ E