Kahuzi-Biéga National Park, Mountain forest national park in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kahuzi-Biéga National Park covers 6,000 km² west of Bukavu, with a 600 km² mountainous eastern sector in the Mitumba Mountains and a 5,400 km² lowland western sector linked by a 7.4 km corridor. Two dormant volcanoes, Kahuzi (3,308 m) and Biéga (2,790 m), give the park its name. Its eastern sector shows six primary vegetation types, from swamp and peat bog to subalpine heather.
The park was established in 1970 to protect the gorillas living there and later gained international recognition. Designation as a World Natural Heritage site in 1980 highlighted the global importance of this forest region.
The Grauer's gorillas have lived in these forests for generations, and local communities have developed their own relationship with the land and its plants. The presence of these gorillas shapes how people view and interact with the forest as a shared space.
The park lies west of Bukavu and is crossed by the Bukavu–Kisangani road. The eastern mountainous sector, with the gorilla areas, is the part visitors reach; the larger western sector stretches toward Kisangani. Annual rainfall averages 1,800 mm, so plan for mud and carry rain gear.
The park's 1975 expansion into inhabited lowlands displaced about 13,000 people from the Shi, Tembo and Rega communities, many of whom refused to leave. A 2020 fish survey recorded 147 species in the park's three drainage basins, 11 of them endemic to the Lowa River basin and 7 previously undescribed.
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