Rwanda Increases Gorillas Habitat by 27hectares

Residents living near the Volcanoes National Park dance during an exhibition

Rwanda Development Board (RDB) will tomorrow – January 10^th receive a donation of 27 hectares of land located in Nyabigoma Cell, Kinigi Sector.

The land will be handed over to RDB by African Wildlife Foundation to increase the size of the Volcanoes National Park.

Straddling on a 16,000-hectares property in the northern part of Rwanda, haven to the rare and endangered mountain gorilla and golden monkeys will be extended to 16,027 hectares.

An extra 27 hectares will expand the natural habitat of the Rwandan mountain Gorillas

In September last year, RDB announced it considered buying more land for the mountain gorillas to increase their population growth.

“We are currently thinking of either purchasing or renting land from citizens to expand the gorilla habitat. This process may take four to six years,” Eugene Mutangana, the head of conservation at RDB said then.

During the last gorilla naming ceremony, RDB said the park accommodates 419 gorillas, but was projecting the number to reach 540 gorillas by December 2017.

Mountain gorillas tourism fetches up to 90% of country revenues from national parks.  In 2016 alone, Rwanda earned $404 million from tourism and targeted to raise $444 million in 2017.