assembling real terrain

Parc National des Virunga · DR Congo

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Forest loss2001

2001Hansen / UMD2023

Viewpoint 1.5°S · 29.5°E Albertine Rift · DR Congo

Map key

Virunga National Park

Adjacent rift parks

Iconic wildlifetap a species ↗

Mountain gorilla

Grauer's gorilla

Golden monkey

Chimpanzee

Hippopotamus

Savanna elephant

Forest elephant

Lion

Okapi

Rwenzori duiker

Rift endemic birds

Main roads (RN routes)

Ranger station / HQ

Ecosystems by elevation · 680–5,109 m

Glacier & bare rock4,200 m +

Afro-alpine moorland3,500–4,200

Bamboo & subalpine2,900–3,500

Montane forest2,300–2,900

Savanna & bushland1,800–2,300

Foothill & woodland1,200–1,800

Lowland rainforest680–1,200

Mountain gorillas · the massif

604in the Virunga Massif2015–16 census

2,300–4,000 m · montane-forest band

~1,063 worldwide — the only great ape increasing

The families · Mikeno sector

Bageni56 Wilungula36 Mapuwa28 Rugendo18 Humba18 Nyakamwe18 Baraka15 Lulengo15 Masibo14 Kabirizi12 Munyaga6

11 families · ≈236 gorillas in the Mikeno sector — 9 habituated, 2 habituating. Counts to Oct 2025.Source: Virunga NP register ↗

Population trend, 1981–2016 ↗

Wildlife · population

10 km

Virunga

The boundary · the record

Parc National des Virunga

A long, narrow envelope around 7,835 km². Its boundary runs about 1,050 km — more than three times the 313 km a compact park of equal area would need. That exposure is the central problem of managing it: almost no forest here sits far from a cultivated edge.

Area: 7,845 km²
Perimeter: ~1,050 km measured
Compactness: 0.09 Polsby–Popper
Established: 1925
Elevation: 680 – 5,109 m
IUCN: Category II

UNESCO World Heritage — inscribed 1979 (criteria vii, viii, x)
In Danger — on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 1994
WDPA ID 2017 — Protected Planet registry
A circle of equal area would have a 313 km perimeter — Virunga's edge is more than three times that, the geometry behind its exposure.

Boundary: OpenStreetMap rel. 404784. Measured area 7,845 km² matches the gazetted ~7,800 km² (WDPA 2017), validating it. Perimeter measured at ~500 m generalisation (scale-dependent). UNESCO WHC #63.