Explore The Bwanga House, Kampala’s Oldest House
January 20, 2020
Game reserves in Uganda
March 10, 2020
Itombwe Nature Reserve is one of the rarely visited tourist sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo and it’s for this reason that it has been important for maintaining biodiversity in the Albertine Rift area, the country and Africa in general.
Established in 2006, the Itombwe Nature Reserve is found within the eastern side of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in South Kivu Province and west of Lake Tanganyika and is currently part of the extraordinary high-altitude forests with altitudes ranging from 1500 to more than 3000 meters above sea level.
The Itombwe Mountains are found within this Reserve and are also part of the Mitumba range in the eastern side of the country in the Albertine Rift bordering the western branch of the Great Rift Valley with a number of Lakes found on the Valley Floor. Because the Reserve was gazetted without consulting local communities, it has undefined legal boundaries and management leading to conflicts between several stakeholders.
The Mitumba range is part of the extensive Itombwe massif and is covered by an expensive Mountain Forest and is reported to have the largest high-altitude forest in the African continent. Of the total 15,000 square kilometres of the massif, half of it is covered by forest although there are other vegetation zones including the low altitude forests, bamboo forests and the summits. The present boundaries of this Reserve offer a surface area of approximately 5732 square kilometres (573,200 hectares) with a perimeter of 568 kilometres across the territories of Shabunda, Mwenga and Uvira.
Just like most Protected Areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Itombwe Nature Reserve is managed by the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) much as most of the conservation activities here are supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Afri-capacity pr Rainforest Foundation Norway and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Flora and Fauna species within Itombwe Nature Reserve
Some of the outstanding attractions found in Itombwe Nature Reserve include over 750 species of terrestrial vertebrates, more than 1.000 plant species, mammals such as antelopes, elephants and Grauer’s gorillas among others.
This Reserve is popular for being a critical conservation area for the Eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringeri graueri), largest species of gorillas currently listed by IUCN as endangered species and only found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Also, there are at least 52 other globally threatened species in Itombwe Nature Reserve.
Other endemic animals within this site include the Itombwe or Prigogine’s nightjars (Caprimulgus prigoginei), Schouteden’s swift (Schoutedenapus schoutedeni), Itombwe Golden frogs (Chrysobatrachus cupreonitens) and many others that can’t be spotted in other places.
However, poaching with traditional equipment and firearms is still the greatest threat to the wildlife of Itombwe Nature Reserve, hence affecting animals regardless of which protection category they are assigned to by the Congolese and International laws.
