Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Wild Animals in Rwanda

Wild animals in Rwanda are very rare if at all in existance. Other than mountain gorillas (in the volcano national park), goats, cows, and sheep there are no wildlife in Rwanda at all. There aren't even stray dogs or cats!!

Rwanda is very dense with population and highly cultivated which leaves no room for wild animals. There are two main national parks in Rwanda, the Volcano national park which houses the Mountain Gorilla and Akagera National Park which boarders Tanzania and Uganda and houses more of a savanna type land scape. they supposedly have giraffes, zebras and other savanna type animals but not as much as in the Tanzanian side.

On the other hand, birding here is amazing and Rwanda is actually a destination for bird watching and ornithology, bird science. I come across many interesting birds almost on daily bases while on site (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sites/index.html?action=SitHTMDetails.asp&sid=6777&m=0)

UPDATE July 31, 2009: I recently hiked mount Bisoke (3,711 m = 12,128 ft and third largest in this range) in Musanze. Mount Bisoke is a volcano mountain crowned with the crater lake and is home to the Amahoro Gorilla group. Our trekking guide mentioned to us that there are other mountain animals inhabiting the volcanoe national park. Although, our group of 8 hikers that day did not sight any animals we certainly did encounter signs of their presence such as fresh terd!! The poop apparently belonged to mountain buffalos and the mountain elephant, which I would love to see!!

2 comments:

MuslimWanderer said...

I enjoy reading yur blog.. Hope you are making a difference in peoples lives..
:)

Sherry said...

Hey A
How are you? Hope all is well.
I am really enjoying your posts... Loved the one about the prayers and really looking forward to rest of that story if you actually decide to go to the prayers in the forest.