Virunga mountains
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Virunga mountains

Virunga mountains

Virunga Mountains is located in the East Africa with a chain of volcanoes that are within the borders of the countries Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. The mountain range is said to be a part of the Albertine Rift located in the Great Rift Valley.

Virunga is an English derived word from its origin word “ibirunga”(comes from  Kinyarwanda dialect)  which literally means “mountains”.

The Virunga region comprises of 8 major volcanoe ranges located in the area between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu near the great East African rift valley. The 8 volcanic ranges in this region include Mount Karisimbi the highest at 4,507 metres, followed by Mount Mikeno at 4437 metres, Mount Muhabura at 4,127 metres, Mount Bisoke at 3711 metres, Mount Sabyinyo at 36711 metres, Mount Gahinga at 3470 metres, Mount Nyiragongo at 3470 metres and lastly Nyamurangira at 3,058 metres.

It is also said that the mountain gorillas are endangered that is why the Volcanoes National Park are protecting them and preventing them to be extinct. There are three active volcanoes till now and others are now extinct and dead.

The tallest mountain that you can find in the Virunga Mountain range is the mountain Karisimbi which is 4,507 meters and 3,000 meters tall. The surroundings of the mountains are covered with bamboo forest and mountain forest.

The shape of the volcanoes is mostly individually coned than a normal mountain range. The names of its volcanoes are the names that describe their geological characteristics which resembles things such as Mount Sabyinyo as “old man’s teeth” which depicted as the physical appearance of the mountain that looks like a tooth.

Before arriving in the mountain range, the traveling time will take about 6 hours and it will be a very tiring day. You should bring enough food and water. The recreational activities that you can do in the place is hiking and walking around the mountain and exploring its beautiful sceneries which are worth every shot from your camera.

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