Wildlife of Rwanda

However, natural vegetation is now mostly restricted to the three national parks and four small forest reserves, with terraced agriculture dominating the rest of the country.

[1][2] Rwanda is a landlocked country in Central Africa, bordered by Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Grassy uplands and hills are predominant characteristics of the terrain, while the country's relief is described as mountainous, its altitude demonstrating a decline from the west towards the east.

Under Rwandan law, 10% of these revenues must be returned to the community, which represents around 10 million euros invested in the construction of schools, roads and drinking water supplies.

[2] The world's smallest water lily, Nymphaea thermarum, was endemic not only to Rwanda but to the damp mud formed by the overflow of a freshwater hot spring in Mashyuza.

The farmers cut off the flow of the spring, which dried up the tiny area—just a few square meters—that was the lily's entire habitat.

[11] Carlos Magdalena, at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, managed to germinate some of the last 20 seeds; eight began to flourish and mature within weeks, and in November 2009, the waterlilies flowered for the first time.

[13] The greatest diversity of large mammals is found in the three national parks, which are designated conservation areas.

[14] Akagera contains typical savanna animals such as giraffes and elephants,[15] while Volcanoes National Park is home to an estimated one third of the worldwide mountain gorilla population.

[22] Eastern Rwanda, by contrast, features savanna birds such as the black-headed gonolek and those associated with swamps and lakes, including storks and cranes.

[24] The European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a migrant bird species in this forest area during the winter season.

[28] The national parks and forest reserves are under threat due to poaching, invasive plants such as water hyacinth, unauthorized livestock grazing, illegal fishing, bush fires, mining, bamboo harvesting, encroachment of protected land for agricultural farming, firewood gathering, be keeping and herbal plant extraction.

This situation is attributed to governance issues lacking in legal acts and guidelines and also heavy anthropogenic pressure.