Which national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the oldest in Africa?

Which national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the oldest in Africa? Virunga National Park. Established in 1925 in the Albertine Rift, it is widely recognized as Africa’s oldest national park and is one of the continent’s most biologically important protected areas.

The park was originally created under Belgian colonial rule as Albert National Park. Its early purpose included scientific study and wildlife protection, and the protected area was expanded in 1929 to cover the Virunga Mountains, parts of the Rutshuru region, and plains south of Lake Edward. It took the name Virunga National Park in 1970.

Virunga stretches along the borders of Uganda and Rwanda and contains an extraordinary range of habitats, from lowland forests and savannas to glaciers and volcanic peaks. It is especially famous for endangered mountain gorillas, as well as active volcanoes such as Nyiragongo.

A common mix-up is with Serengeti or Kruger, which are among Africa’s most famous parks but were established later. Virunga is also different from Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, which protects another section of the wider Virunga volcanic region.