Mgahinga Gorilla National Park

The park is the smallest of all in Uganda covering a bout 38 sq km. However, small it may be, it is very important since it also has the endangered mountain gorillas.

The park is located in Southwestern part of Uganda in Kisoro district.
The park became one of Virunga Conservation Area when it was gazetted in 1991. The park neighbours DRC’s Virunga National Park and Rwanda’s volcano.

In the months of February-May the park experiences 2 wet rainy seasons as well as in the months of September to December.

The maximum amount of rainfall is 250mm in a year and the minimum being 10mm in the month of October and July respectively.

Local people:
The major ethnic group are the Bafumbira who live most of their life cultivating.
The Batwa (Pygmies) are the minority group and are believed to live in caves and feed on wildlife.

Kisoro district is heavily populated, with 331 people per sq km. However, due to the UWA the park is well protected, which controls the people on a few resources than destructing the park. With the majority staff being from the community, a law established by UWA indicates that 20% of park entrance fee goes to the development of the surrounding projects near the park.

Flora and Fauna:
The park’s vegetation is generally a fro montane since it’s a mountainous region with a cool climate with the vegetation being a bamboo (60%), hence being a scare to mountain gorilla.
Among other flora include the Haegenia and the Lobelia, and birds include crowned hornbill, black kite, crowned crane and Rwenzori turaco.
Examples of animals include elephants, bushbucks, mountain gorillas and buffalos.

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