How Big is Kahuzi Biega National Park?
How Big is Kahuzi Biega National Park? Kahuzi-Biega National Park is one of the country’s largest, encompassing an area of 6,000 square kilometers (about 2,300 square miles). It is one of the few remaining safe havens for the rare Eastern lowland gorilla, also known as Gorilla Beringei Graueri, which is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. In 1980, the park was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unusual range of rainforest environments and eastern lowland gorillas.
It was placed to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1997 due to the region’s political instability, an influx of refugees, and growing animal abuse. The park is separated into two sections: one in the Albertine Rift’s Mitumba Mountain range in the Great Rift Valley, and the other on lowland terrain.
In Kahuzi Biega National Park, a 7.4 km broad corridor connects the highland and lowland zones. The eastern half of the park includes a 600-square-kilometer mountainous region; the main part is 5,400-square-kilometer lowland extending from Bukavu to Kisangani, drained by the Luka and Lugulu rivers, which flow into the Lualaba River.
Two dormant volcanoes provide their names inside the park’s boundaries: Kahuzi (3,308 m) and Biéga (2,790 m). Every year, the park receives an average of 1,800 mm of precipitation (71 in). The maximum temperature in the region is 18 °C, while the lowest is 10.4 °C.
A wide variety of plants and fauna may be found in the park. According to a Wildlife Conservation Society evaluation from 2003, it protects around 349 bird species and 136 mammal species. In the park’s highland parts alone, over 1,178 plant species have been discovered. Because of its diverse topography and habitat types, Kahuzi-Biega National Park is also a hotspot of plant and animal endemism.
What to see during your visit Kahuzi Biega National Park.
The Albertine Rift National Park boasts the most animal species variety of any national park in the Albertine Rift. The eastern lowland gorilla is the most apparent of the park’s 136 animal species.
According to a 2008 status assessment from DR Congo, the park has 125 lowland gorillas, a considerable fall from the pre-1990s conflict figure of 600 gorillas, and the species has been classified as endangered as a result.
The park is the last safe shelter for this critically endangered species. According to a census assessment of eastern lowland gorillas done by the Wildlife Conservation Society in April 2011, at least 181 gorillas were detected in the park.
Among the other primates are the eastern chimpanzees, Cercopithecinae, Colobinae, and owl-faced monkeys. Among the creatures are the bush elephant, bush buffalo, hylochere and bongo, eastern needle-clawed galago, Maclaud’s horseshoe bat, Ruwenzori least otter shrew, and Alexander’s bush squirrel. The two genet animal species found in the park are unique to the Congo Basin: the water genet and the massive forest genet.
Birdlife in Kahuzi Biega National Park.
At least 42 of the 349 bird species identified inside the park are local, including the endangered Albertine owlet. Other local bird species include the Yellow-crested Helmet-shrike, Congo peafowl, African green broadbill, and Rockefeller’s sunbird.
What to do during your visit to Kahuzi Biega National Park.
Trek Eastern Lowland Gorillas
Visitors to Kahuzi Biega National Park have the opportunity to follow eastern lowland gorillas. Visitors aged 15 and over can go gorilla trekking in the park for a charge of USD 400 per person. The national park features 12 gorilla groups, with 5 of them open to tourists for monitoring.
Visit Lwiro Sanctuary.
Tourists visiting Kahuzi-Biega National Park can see habituated Chimpanzees at the Lwiro Sanctuary for around US$ 40 per person. Visitors to the primate rehabilitation center are taken on a tour of the facility’s history and conservation initiatives.
Visit Local Communities neighbouring Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
Cultural or community excursions in Kahuzi-Biega National Park allow visitors to interact with inhabitants of the park’s neighboring communities. Cultural interactions in the park are a fantastic way for tourists to learn more about Congo’s numerous ethnic groups and how the inhabitants live their lives.
Watch local dance and singing troupes perform, and put your creativity to the test by making baskets, beads, necklaces, earrings, and apparel out of locally produced materials such as recycled paper, sisal, papyrus, and Kinteges. Visitors may also learn how to cook traditional Congolese foods and have a meal with a local family.
Accessing Kahuzi Biega National Park in Congo.
The bulk of trips to Kahuzi-Biega National Park start in Rwanda, with pickups in Kigali or Gisenyi. Others may choose to fly into Goma International Airport, where our corporate guide will meet you. The Rusizi I route from Kigali City to Kamembe in Cyangugu town takes around 6-7 hours. After crossing through the borders of Goma and Bukavu, visitors will need to travel for around 112 hours to reach the national park.
Travelers may also fly from Kigali Airport to Goma Airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is a very convenient mode of traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The national park is 230 kilometers from Goma and may be reached by car.