Virunga National Park

Virunga National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Bukima Camp in the foothills of Mikeno Mountain, home of the Congolese mountain gorillas
Location	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Nearest city	Goma
Coordinates	0°55′S 29°10′E / 0.917°S 29.167°E / -0.917; 29.167Coordinates: 0°55′S 29°10′E / 0.917°S 29.167°E / -0.917; 29.167
Area	7,800 km2 (3,000 sq mi)
Established	1925
Governing body	Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Natural
Criteria	vii, viii, x
Designated	1979 (3rd session)
Reference no.	63
State Party	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Region	Africa
Endangered	1994–present

The Virunga National Park (French: Parc National des Virunga), formerly named Albert National Park, is a 7,800-square-kilometre (3,000 sq mi) National Park that stretches from the Virunga Mountains in the south, to the Rwenzori Mountains in the north, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, bordering Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori Mountains National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.

The park was established in 1925 as Africa's first national park and is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site since 1979. In recent years, poaching and the Congo Civil War have seriously damaged its wildlife population. The park is managed by the Congolese National Park Authorities, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) and its partner the Virunga Foundation, formerly known as the Africa Conservation Fund (UK). The current park director since 2008 is the Belgian Prince Emmanuel de Merode.

The park was created in 1925 by King Albert I of Belgium as the first national park on the continent of Africa. It was founded primarily to protect the mountain gorillas living in the forests of the Virunga Mountains controlled by the Belgian Congo, but later expanded north to include the Rwindi Plains, Lake Edward and the Rwenzori Mountains in the far north.