History of Mgahinga national park

History of Mgahinga national park: Mgahinga national park is located in the southwestern part of Uganda in Kisoro district near the borders of Rwanda and DR Congo. Mgahinga national park is apparently one of the best and most sought after safari destinations in Uganda and the world celebrated to be having some of the endangered mountain gorillas still surviving on earth.

History of Mgahinga national park

The history of Mgahinga national park starts as far as 1930 when the British administration declared the area as a game sanctuary. The now called Mgahinga national park was left as a game sanctuary until 1991 when the government decided to make it a national park. It was declared a national park in 1991 with an area of 33.9 sq. km making it the smallest in the country.

The name Mgahinga comes from a Kinyarwanda word “Gahinga” which meant a pile of volcanic lava stone cleared from farmland at the foot of the volcanoes. Mgahinga national park has the three conical extinct volcanoes which are part of the 8 Virunga volcanoes. The Virunga volcanoes seen in Mgahinga national park are Mount Muhabura, Mount Gahinga, and Mount Sabyinyo.

Long before the explorers or even the government of Uganda discovered the now Mgahinga national park, the vast area was home to the Batwa pygmies from where they used to get food like meat from small animals, fruits, honey, and many others. The Batwa pygmies used to live alongside all animals that were living in the big area of now called Mgahinga national park.

In 1991, the government of Uganda discovered that mountain gorillas were so important to the government and the people and they decided to gazette the area as a national park. In the year 1991, an area of 33.9 sq. km was gazetted as a national park and the Batwa pygmies were asked to leave the land immediately.

When the Batwa left Mgahinga national park, the park activities had to begin immediately. The armed ranger guides were introduced into the park to protect the remaining mountain gorillas, other wild animals, and to send away all the Batwa pygmies from the gazetted area. In Mgahinga national park, poaching by the locals and the Batwa people was immediately stopped, and this protected different wild animals and led to an increase in their population.

The park headquarters were established at an area called Ntebeko and till now it’s where all park activities begin. All tourists gather here to listen to what rangers have to say before any activity begins. The original Mgahinga national park extended to the borders of DR Congo near Virunga national park and also the borders of Rwanda next to Volcanoes national park.

Between Mgahinga national park and Virunga national park, a boundary was put in place to stop the few mountain gorillas and wildlife of Mgahinga national park from crossing to Volcanoes national park. Mountain gorillas or most of the wildlife species are very mobile when it comes to time of looking for food so on some days they could move as far as volcanoes national park but that issue was worked upon and they now move around Mgahinga national park only.

Mgahinga national park is one of the most sought after national parks in Uganda by a lot of travelers who want to explore Uganda. Mgahinga national park is the smallest national park in Uganda however what makes it famous are the mountain gorillas which can’t be found anywhere in the world apart from Uganda, Rwanda, and DR Congo.

Mountain gorillas are some of the most loved animals on earth and people do like to meet them because scientists discovered that they share 98% DNA with human beings. A lot of tourists do really love to spend some time with the endangered mountain gorillas in their wild a reason as to why Mgahinga national park is among the most loved national parks in the world.

The tourist attractions in Mgahinga national park

The wild animals

Mgahinga national park is home to so many wildlife species living in the bamboo, afro-montane, and montane vegetation. The most loved wild animals in Mgahinga national park are the endangered gorillas and the golden monkeys which are endemic to the area. Other wild animals in Mgahinga national park include the forest elephants, giant forest hogs, bushbucks, bush pigs, leopards, buffaloes, black-fronted duikers, and different monkey species among others.

Birds

Mgahinga national park has a bird check list of over 180 species among which include the 14 endemic Albertine rift. Some of the birds in Mgahinga national park include Kivu ground thrush, turaco, brown crowned tchagra, cape robin chat, strange weaver, lagden’s bushshrike, cinnamon bracken warbler, cinnamon bracken warbler, white-eyed slaty flycatcher, African paradise flycatcher, ladgen’s bushshrike, cinnamon chested bee-eater, white starred robin, chubb’s cisticola, olive pigeon, yellow vented bulbul, Rwenzori turaco, montane double collared sunbird, dusky crimson wing, and moorland chat among others.

Virunga volcanoes

The Virunga volcanoes are the other attractions in Mgahunga national park. Mgahunga national has got three of the Virunga volcanoes which are Mount Gahinga, Mount Sabyinyo, and Mount Muhavura. The downer slopes of these volcanoes are home to different wild animals among which include golden monkeys. The mountains are available for hiking activities within the park.

The Batwa pygmies

Even though these people no longer live inside the jungles of Mgahinga national park, the Batwa pygmies are found near the park boundaries. Tourists who love to explore the African culture love to visit different homes of the Batwa pygmies to see how they live their day to day lives. Tourists always want to know stories of how they survived in the jungle and how they are getting used to life outside the forest.