Kahuzi Biega National Park
{"<p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">The Congolese people are extremely friendly and helpful and the eastern Congo is a lush and enormous landscape of beautiful mountains and lakes simply gorgeous! Kahuzi Biega National Park is the last major sanctuary of Grauer's lowland gorillas.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">They are larger and potentially more endangered than the mountain gorillas of western Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo north of Lake Kivu.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">A visit to Kahuzi Biega National Park operated by the Institut Congolais Pour La Conservation de la is high-adventure travel to an environmental paradise!</span></p><h2><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">History of Kahuzi Biega National Park</span></h2><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">A small zoological and forest reserve was established around Mount Kahuzi in 1937. A larger Kahuzi Biega National Park operated by the Institut Congolais Pour La Conservation de la was established in 1970.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">The park became a World Heritage Site in 1980 to protect 200-300 eastern lowland (Grauer's) gorillas occurring mainly in the forests at 2,100-2,400 m, but also in the lower rainforest. The 'mosaic' of biotypes makes the park an excellent gorilla habitat.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Other primates include eastern chimpanzees, and numerous Cercopithecinae and Colobinae. Other mammals include elephants, forest hogs and many antelope and duiker.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Avifauna includes the endemic Rockefeller's sunbird, Grauer's broadbill, Grauer's warbler and Shelley's crimsonwing.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Endemic mammal species include giant gennet, Aquatic civet, Maclaud's horseshoe bat, Rwenzori least otter shrew, owl-faced monkey, eastern needle-clawed galago, Thomas' tree squirrel and Alexander's bush squirrel.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Fifteen villages of shifting cultivators were located in the eastern sectors of the park when it was created and continue to be occupied. The park is situated in one of the most densely populated areas of the country.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Some 90% of the population of Kivu is rural, mainly dependent on agriculture. Seven separate tribal groups live around the park including the Pygmy, Barega and Bashi peoples. Traditional livelihoods are based on shifting agriculture and subsistence hunting.</span></p><h2><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Landscape of Kahuzi Biega National Park</span></h2><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">The park consists of two sections; the lowland (closed for visits) and the highland (open for visits). The park is situated in the eastern part of the country, 50 kilometers west of the town of Bukavu, near Lake Kivu and the Rwandan border.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">It consists of a smaller sector on the eastern side covering part of the Mitumba Mountains, and a larger western sector in the Zairean central basin. The two zones are connected by a narrow corridor. The entrance to the park is at Tshivanga, on the eastern side. The 75,000 ha eastern sector is entirely montane.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">The massif is part of the Mitumba Mountains range, the western mountains of the Great Rift Valley. The two main peaks, Mount Kahuzi (3,308 meters) and Mount Biéga (2,790 meters) are extinct volcanoes, and the massif dates from the late Tertiary or early Quaternary.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">The lowland sector in the Zairean central basin covers the watersheds of the tributaries of the Luka and Lugulu rivers. These both drain into the River Lualaba. The extension lies below 1,500m apart from isolated peaks such as Mount Kamani (1,700 meters), and consists of mountains cut by deep valleys.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Undulating terrain in the west forms a belt between the two zones. The western zone is forested by equatorial rainforest, with transition forest between 1,200 meters and 1,500 meters. In the eastern zone, six different primary vegetation types have been distinguished: mountain rainforest, high-altitude rainforest, swamp forest, bamboo forest, subalpine heather and swamp and peat bog.</span></p><h2><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Flora and fauna</span></h2><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">The park is home to some of the last remaining populations of Eastern lowland gorillas in the wild. There were an estimated 600 living in the park in 1990, but there are only believed to be a couple hundred still alive after the tumultuous fighting of the 1990s and 2000s.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">In comparison to the western lowland gorillas, with a population of over 100,000 in Congo Brazzavile, the total population of eastern lowland gorillas numbers at less than 4,000. They are also not to be confused with the mountain gorillas sought by tourists in </span><a href=\"http://localhost:8080/destinations/Rwanda\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Rwanda</a><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">, </span><a href=\"http://localhost:8080/destinations/Uganda\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Uganda</a><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\"> and Virunga National Park in </span><a href=\"http://localhost:8080/destinations/Democratic-Republic-of-Congo\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Democratic Republic of Congo</a><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">The Eastern Lowland Gorilla is noteworthy for being larger than their western counterparts or mountain gorillas. They are the largest known primates, measuring in at 1.76 meters (5 ft 9 in) for males and 1.60 meters (5 ft 3 in) for females.</span></p><h2><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Geting to Kahuzi Biega National Park</span></h2><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">The park is accessible by a decent road from Bukavu.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Taxis, buses, and car hires can be made to reach the park.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">You need a letter of invitation to apply for your </span><a href=\"https://www.visahq.com/congo-democratic-republic/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Democratic Republic of Congo visa.</a></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Book your airline tickets to Kigali, </span><a href=\"http://localhost:8080/destinations/Rwanda\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Rwanda</a><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\"> (KLM or similar) and to Kamembe-Cyangugu-Ruizi (Rwandair) in advance.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">You need a copy of your paid airline e-ticket to apply for a Democratic Republic of Congo visa, which costs $115 for a single entry.</span></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">You may not need </span><a href=\"https://www.visitrwanda.com/facts/immigration-visas/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">a visa to visit Rwanda</a></p><p><span style=\"color: var(--main-text-color);\">Do not try to cross the Democratic Republic of Congo border without someone from Democratic Republic of Congo government, hopefully from the ICCN (Institut Conglais de Conservation de Nature) who run the Kahuzi Biega National Park (Parc National de Kahuzi-Biega). If they are with you, your crossing will be smooth and quick.</span></p><p><br></p>","Kahuzi Biega National Park operated by the Institut Congolais Pour La Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) is a World Heritage Site. Kahuzi Biega National Park is famous as the largest refuge of the highly endangered Eastern Lowland (Grauer's) Gorillas. The last census of the gorillas in 2013 counted only 145 individuals."}
