Travel Guide Parc National De La Kibira

With an area of 40 900 ha, the Kibira National Park is the largest in Burundi after the Ruvubu, but its existence is older, since in 1933 the Belgian colonial authorities conferred special status (forest reserve), confirmed in 1980 by decree.At altitudes ranging from 1 600 m to 2 666 m (Mount Teza, second summit of the country), this park protects a beautiful mountain forest that covers the west and east slopes of the Congo-Nile Ridge throughout its northern part. To the south, indeed, to Mugongo and lower to Mount Heha (2 670 m), the ridge is still high and mountain forests present, but they are not within the perimeter of the national park.A very extensive park. From the vicinity of Bugarama to the south, the park stretches over 80 km long to the north, covering 5 to 7 km wide all the ridge heights, and extends to Rwanda by the Nyungwe forest, which is also protected. Four provinces share this vast natural territory: on the one hand, Bubanza and Cibitoke in the western part, the most abrupt with the Mirwa mountains, steep slopes from the ridge to the Imbo plain, more than 1 000 m below (so few access roads); and on the other side, Muramvya and Kayanza in the eastern part, where the ridge connects to the highlands without net escarpment (more access paths).A reserve of threatened biodiversity. The main characteristic of the Kibira is its altitude rain forest, which benefits from the highest peaks of rainfall conditions ideal for development (1 800 to 2 000 mm of water per year). Here you can find the latest vestiges of the dense forest that we encounter throughout the Afro-mountain complex of the albertine rift (in Kivu-Ruwenzori in the DRC, and in Nyungwe in Rwanda), which is a unique faunistique and plant development environment.The Forêt forest has been Tested by War and the degradation of the Park is a well-established reality. INECN estimates that nearly one quarter of the Park's area (10 000 ha) was destroyed between 1993 and 2003, by clearing or illegally slaughtering trees. This threatens the biodiversity of this area, but also has indirect effects on soil quality (erosion) and the regulation of the country's rivers. The Kibira is indeed the water castle in Burundi (almost three-quarters of the Burundian waters come from its summits, including Ruvubu, which originates in The, near Rwegura) and tree cutting déséquilibre the regimes of some rivers in the Nile and Congo basins.