Wildest Africa

Virungas Land of Ice and Fire (1x5)

Air date: Jun 02, 2010

Virunga National Park is notable for its chain of active volcanoes and the greatest diversity of habitats of any park in Africa: from steppes, savannas and lava plains, swamps, lowland and forests, to the ice fields of the Ruwenzori mountains, which culminate in peaks above 5000m. The great diversity of habitats harbors an exceptional biodiversity, including endemic as well as rare and globally endangered species, such as the mountain gorilla. The Ruwenzori or 'Mountains of the Moon', sit between the humid forests of the Congo Basin and the monsoon lands of East Africa. The Ruwenzori's glaciers, frozen at some 5,000m (16,500ft) above sea level drip feed bogs which in turn feed mountain streams, rivers and the great African lakes of Victoria, Albert, Edward and George.