[2] They are made up of uplifted Pre-Cambrian basement rocks overlaid in places by recent volcanic activity.

[1] The Elila River rises in the mountains, which are covered by forest except where rock bluffs emerge from the steepest slopes.

[1] The mountains are home to endangered Eastern lowland gorillas, chimpanzees and African bush elephants.

[1] Rudolf Grauer spent three months in the mountains in 1908, collecting twelve gorillas for the Vienna Museum.

Population densities on the western slope and the high plateau of Itombwe are lower at between 10 and 20 people per square kilometer.

Banyamulenge (ethnic Tutsi), who migrated from present-day Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania have moved into the territory starting in the 19th century.

[1] The region has been the scene of struggles between different armed groups, causing severe humanitarian and environmental problems.

NGOs have been attempting to help local communities recover and develop sustainable agricultural and practices while conserving the forest.

[3] The Itombwe mountains were given a high conservation priority at a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) conference held in Libreville, Gabon in 2000 since they are a globally important biodiversity region for birds, mammals and reptiles.

People were moving in to grow crops or to mine for gold, diamonds and columbo-tantalite, which is used in semiconductors and computer chips.