A massif is simply a principal mountain mass, for example, a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits. In mountaineering literature, a massif is frequently used to denote the main mass of an individual mountain.
North Kivu is a province bordering Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Goma.
Lake Edward is one of the smaller African Great Lakes. It is located in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometres south of the equator.
The Virunga Mountains are a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, in the area where Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Uganda meet. The mountain range is a branch of the Albertine Rift Mountains, which border the western branch of the East African Rift. They are located between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu. The name "Virunga" is an English version of the Kinyarwanda word ibirunga, which means "volcanoes".
Virunga National Park is a national park in the Albertine Rift Valley in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in 1925. In elevation, it ranges from 680 m (2,230 ft) in the Semliki River valley to 5,109 m (16,762 ft) in the Rwenzori Mountains. From north to south it extends approximately 300 km (190 mi), largely along the international borders with Uganda and Rwanda in the east. It covers an area of 8,090 km2 (3,120 sq mi).
The term Mai-Mai or Mayi-Mayi refers to any kind of community-based militia group active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that is formed to defend local communities and territory against other armed groups. Most were formed to resist the invasion of Rwandan forces and Rwanda-affiliated Congolese rebel groups, but some may have formed to exploit the war to their own advantage by looting, cattle rustling or banditry.
Beni is a city in north eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, lying immediately west of the Virunga National Park and the Rwenzori Mountains, on the edge of the Ituri Forest.
Pharos Energy Plc, previously SOCO International, is an oil and gas exploration and production company, headquartered in London. The company changed its name to Pharos Energy Plc in October 2019 after coming under fire for illegal activity in Virunga.
The Albertine Rift montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in east-central Africa. The ecoregion covers the mountains of the northern Albertine Rift, and is home to distinct Afromontane forests with high biodiversity.
Prince Emmanuel de Merode is a conservationist and anthropologist. He has been the director of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 2008.
Mount Sabyinyo is an extinct volcano in eastern Africa in the Virunga Mountains. Mount Sabyinyo is the oldest volcano of the range. It is north-east of Lake Kivu, one of the African Great Lakes, and west of Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda. The summit of the mountain, at 3,669 metres (12,037 ft), marks the intersection of the borders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Uganda, and holds religious significance to local tribes. It also is within the adjoining national parks established by these countries: Virunga National Park in the DRC, the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda.
Eugène Rutagarama is an environmentalist from Rwanda. He was awarded the "Goldman Environmental Prize" in 2001, for his efforts on saving the population of mountain gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park at Virungas mountains, during the war and recent conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature is a Congolese governmental partner tasked with the protection and conservation of the Virunga National Park and Kahuzi-Biega National Park, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Members of the ICCN are charged with the overall protection of the parks and the endangered mountain gorilla. The ICCN works with various national and international NGO partners.
The International Gorilla Conservation Programme was formed in 1991 to ensure that the critically endangered mountain gorillas are conserved in their habitat in the mountain forests of the Virunga Massif in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Rutshuru Territory is a territory in the North Kivu province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with headquarters is the town of Rutshuru.
Visitors to the Democratic Republic of the Congo must obtain a visa from one of the Democratic Republic of the Congo diplomatic missions unless they come from a visa exempt country, a country whose nationals can obtain a visa on arrival or eligible to obtain an e-visa online https://evisa.gouv.cd or are arriving from a country with no embassy, in which case they can obtain a visa confirmation followed by a 7-day visa on arrival. In recent years, it is possible to arrange a tourist visa for visiting the Virunga National Park through the park itself.
Lubero is a town in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the administrative center of the Lubero Territory. Following the surrender of the Mai-Mai fighters in 2021, construction of a new market began in 2022, involving the mayor, ex-soldiers, "young people at risk and the vulnerable women". As of March 2014, the population of Lubero is not publicly known.
Virunga is a 2014 British documentary film directed by Orlando von Einsiedel. It focuses on the conservation work of park rangers within the Congo's Virunga National Park during the rise of the violent M23 Rebellion in 2012 and investigates the activity of the British oil company Soco International within the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Soco International ended up officially exploring oil opportunities in Virunga in April 2014. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 17 April 2014. After airing on Netflix, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Events in the year 2021 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mount Hehu are large hills located in the Buhumba groupement (grouoing) within the Bukumu Chiefdom of the Nyiragongo Territory in the North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Standing at an elevation of 2,430 meters, Mount Hehu is situated near Hibumba and Bungeshi Mukuru villages on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
