Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
| Mgahinga Gorilla National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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 Location of Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
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| Location | Kisoro District |
| Nearest city | Kisoro |
| Coordinates | 01°22′10″S 29°38′25″E / 1.36944°S 29.64028°ECoordinates: 01°22′10″S 29°38′25″E / 1.36944°S 29.64028°E |
| Area | 33.7 km2 (13.0 sq mi) |
| Governing body | Ugandan Wildlife Authority |
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is a national park in the far south-west of Uganda near the town of Kisoro.
The park is in the Virunga Mountains and is contiguous with the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The park is about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi), by road, south of the town of Kisoro and approximately 55 kilometres (34 mi), by road, west of Kabale, the largest city in the sub-region. The entire park is located in Bufumbira County in Kisoro District.
The park is the smallest national park in Uganda, about 33.7 square kilometres (13.0 sq mi). It is one of the only two parks in Uganda that offer habitat for the endangered mountain gorilla.
The park was gazetted in 1991. It experiences two wet rainy seasons: February to May and September to December. The average amount of monthly rainfall varies from 250 millimetres (9.8 in) in October to 10 millimetres (0.39 in) in July.
Mgahinga is one of two locations in Uganda where mountain gorillas live, with the other being the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The park has one habituated gorilla group, although this group sometimes crosses the border into Rwanda.
The park is contiguous with Virunga National Park in the DRC to the west and Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda to the south. The three parks together form the 434 square kilometres (168 sq mi) Virunga Conservation Area (VCA). At 33.7 square kilometres (13.0 sq mi), Mgahinga forms only about 8 percent of the VCA.
The national park also includes three of the eight Virunga volcanoes: Mount Muhabura, Mount Gahinga, and Mount Sabyinyo, all of which lie on the Uganda/Rwanda border. Any of these can be climbed in one day from the park headquarters.
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Wikipedia