Virunga Mountains

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Mont Nyiragongo

The Virunga Mountains are a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. The mountain range is a branch of the Albertine Rift, a part of the Great Rift Valley. They are located between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu.

The mountain range consists of eight major volcanoes. Most of them are dormant, except Mount Nyiragongo (3462 m) and Mount Nyamuragira (3063 m) in the Congo. These volcanoes erupted most recently in 2006. Mount Karisimbi (4507 m) is the highest volcano. The oldest mountain is Mount Sabinyo (3634 m).

The Virunga Mountains are home of the critically endangered Mountain Gorilla, listed on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species due to habitat loss, poaching, human disease, and war (Butynski et al. 2003). The Karisoke Research Center, founded by Dian Fossey to observe gorillas in their native habitat, is located between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Visoke.

1 National Parks
2 List of mountains in the Virunga
3 In culture
4 See also

[edit] National Parks

[edit] List of mountains in the Virunga

Mount Karisimbi, Rwanda/DRC (4,507 m)
Mount Mikeno, DRC (4,437 m)
Mount Muhabura, Rwanda/Uganda (4,127 m)
Mount Bisoke, Rwanda/DRC (3,711 m)
Mount Sabyinyo, Rwanda/Uganda (3,674 m)
Mount Gahinga, Rwanda/Uganda (3,474 m)
Mount Nyiragongo, DRC (3,470 m)
Mount Nyamuragira, DRC (3,058 m)

[edit] In culture

Michael Crichton's novel Congo is set mostly in the Virunga region.
Samba Mapangala, a Congolese-Kenyan musician, had a band called Orchestra Virunga.