In the far south-west of Uganda, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is the country’s smallest national park at a little under 34 square kilometres (13 square miles), but, sharing a border with Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Virunga, it contains some of the country’s most important wildlife.
The landscape is dramatic, all at an altitude of between 2,227 and 4,127m, centred on three spectacular extinct volcanoes – Sabyinyo, Gahinga and Muhabura – rising out of the forests, and all climbable in a day.
As the name suggests, the area is home to the rare mountain gorilla, with one habituated family spending it’s time here, occasionally crossing the border. You can also find endangered golden monkeys here, blue monkeys, elephant, buffalo and numerous bird species.
The park is also important culturally, particularly for the indigenous Batwa people, a tribe of hunter-gatherers who are forest’s first people and one of the oldest cultures in Africa.
