Mount Gahinga, also known in the local Kinyarwanda/Rufumbira dialect as "a small pile of stones", has a swampy caldera on its peak.

Mount Gahinga, whose elevation is 3,473 m (11,394 ft), is part of a chain of eight volcanic mountains of the Mufumbiro ranges.

The volcano chain spans across Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Like Muhabura and Sabyinyo, the bamboo forests on Mount Gahinga are a habitat of the endangered mountain gorilla.

There are several other species of animals and birds that form part of the Mount Gahinga ecosystem.