Which African country is home to the first national park in Africa?

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to Africa’s first national park, established in 1925 as Albert National Park.

The protected area was created in the Belgian Congo in the Virunga region to study and conserve wildlife, especially mountain gorillas and their forest habitat. It was later expanded and renamed Virunga National Park in 1970. The park lies in eastern DRC along borders with Uganda and Rwanda.

Virunga is much more than a gorilla sanctuary. Its landscapes include rainforests, savannas, wetlands, glaciers and active volcanoes such as Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira. More than 3,000 animal and plant species have been recorded there, including many found nowhere else in the Albertine Rift.

A common mix-up is South Africa’s Kruger National Park, established in 1926. Kruger was among Africa’s earliest major parks, but Virunga predates it by a year. UNESCO designated Virunga a World Heritage Site in 1979, though it has also been listed as endangered because of conflict and pressure on its habitats.