Volcano National Park
| Volcano National Park | |||
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| Location: | Northern Province , Rwanda | ||
| Surface: | 130 km² | ||
| Founding: | 1969 (in the form of the Albert National Park since 1925) | ||
The Volcano National Park (French Parc national des volcans ) is a 13,000 hectare national park in northwest Rwanda . Just like the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the National Park was created in 1969 from the division of the Albert National Park, which had existed since 1925. He is best known for the mountain gorillas that occur here .
geography
The park is located in northwest Rwanda on the border with the DR Congo and Uganda , about 15 kilometers northwest of the city of Ruhengeri . Five of the eight Virunga volcanoes are located in the park : Visoke (other spellings: Bisoke or Bisoko ), Gahinga , Karisimbi , Muhabura and Sabinyo .
history
Albert National Park
The predecessor of the Volcano National Park was established in 1925, making it the first national park in Africa. Initially, only a small area around Karisimbi, Visoke and Mikeno was declared a national park in order to protect the gorillas living here from poaching. In 1929, the colonial power Belgium expanded the park to include additional areas in Rwanda-Urundi and Belgian Congo . The park grew to an area of 8090 km².
division
After the independence of the Congo, Albert National Park was divided in 1969. The Volcano National Park in Rwanda and the Virunga National Park in the DR Congo were created. The park became known through the research of Dian Fossey . In 1967 she established the Karisoke Research Station between Karisimbi and Visoke. From here, she conducted a long-term study of the life of mountain gorillas in the national park and was committed to protecting the animals. The park was declared a biosphere reserve in 1983. Dian Fossey was murdered by strangers in 1985 and buried in the gorilla cemetery near her research station.
In the run-up to the genocide in Rwanda , fighting repeatedly took place in the national park, during which the administrative center of the national park was attacked in 1992. As a result, the center was abandoned and all activities in the park ceased until 1999. After the end of the genocide, there have been repeated attempts by various rebel groups to set up in the park.
tourism
Financial investors from Dubai are planning to develop the parks for tourism through an investment program. Eight luxury tourism complexes are to be built in Rwanda for almost 160 million euros. The main tourist magnet is the mountain gorilla population in the volcano national park and the adjacent national parks.
Individual evidence
- ^ Philip Briggs & Janice Booth (2001) Rwanda: The Bradt Travel Guide p171. Bradt Travel Guides Ltd. and The Globe Pequot Press Inc. ISBN 1-84162-034-3
- ↑ State funds: Dubai invests in Rwanda - villas in the land of the gorillas. Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 14, 2007, accessed on October 3, 2010 .
Web links
- The park on Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe e. V.
- Maike Grunwald: The last mountain gorillas are a tourist attraction in Rwanda , Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, March 12, 2011.