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The Italian Park Portal


Parks, Reserves, and Other Protected Areas in

Rwanda

Rwanda

National Parks

  • Akagera (www)
  • des Volcans (www)
  • Nyungwe (www)

Forest Reserves

  • Cyamudongo
  • Gisakura Gallery
  • Gishwati
  • Mukura
  • Nyungwe

Other Protected Areas

  • Akanyaru wetlands
  • Mutara
  • Nyabarongo River Wetlands
  • Rugezi Marsh

UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserves

  • Parc national des Volcans

Cloud Forest Sites

  • Gishwati
  • Mukura
  • Nyungwe
  • Volcans
Info
Protected Areas in Rwanda
The Rwanda Office of Tourism and National Parks (Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux - ORTPN), which incorporates the former Institute of National Parks and Office of Tourism, is responsible for the management of national parks, special reserves and hunting reserves. ORTPN is administratively and financially autonomous and is under the direct control of the President of the Republic.
In 1925 Volcans National Park was established, straddling the northern mountainous border of Rwanda and Zaïre. The park was extended in 1929 to cover the rest of the mountain chain, and adjacent areas in the Congo. The Zaire border of the park includes the Virunga National Park, and the Uganda side has the status of a gorilla sanctuary. All remnant forest lands were set aside as official reserves in 1933, in response to the rapid conversion of montane forest to pasture land which had recently occurred.
Rwanda is now one of the most densely populated countries in Africa, yet is one of the few nations in the world to have more than 10% of its land included within protected areas, most of which lies within the national parks. The protected areas system (excluding forest reserves) covers almost 17% of the country, in five reserves.
Rwanda has ratified the 1968 (Algiers) African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, which provides definitions of strict nature reserves, national parks and special reserves. One site is listed as a biosphere reserve under the Unesco Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, Parc national des Volcans.


Sources: World Database of Protected Areas, UNEP-WCMC, Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux - ORTPN