African Unification Front
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THE VIRUNGA VOLCANIC CHAIN
Inside the Albertine Rift (the Western Rift Valley)
 Stretching from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tanganyika and extending through the AU states of Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Tanzania, the Albertine Rift is a massive bow-shaped canyon whose walls consist of cliffs topped by mountain ranges.
The valley is also Africa's most important site for the conservation of biodiversity. Its huge diversity of habitats incorporates the ice fields on top of the Rwenzori mountains at 5,000 metres (16,000 feet), active volcanoes, hotsprings, bamboo, alpine vegetation, montane forest, savanna and down to the lowland forests of Semuliki at 600 metres (1,800 feet).
The range of mountains that constitute the escarpment of the Albertine Rift, includes several chains of mountains, and is the main source of the great central African rivers and lakes, including the Rivers Congo, Nile, Semliki, Kagera, Kanyaru. The Albertine range is the source of Lake Victoria (Africa's largest lake), Lake George, Lake Edward, Lake Albert, Lake Tanganyika (the world's deepest lake), Lake Kivu, and Lake Kyoga.
 The Virunga volcanic chain includes the active Nyiragongo volcano of Congo. The eastern area of the Virunga volcanic field includes the Karisoke Research Center home of the endangered mountain gorillas. The chains includes cinder cones ("dry" eruptions at relatively high elevations) and maar cones ("wet" eruptions at lower elevations) close to nearby Lake Kivu; there are many dozens of cones surrounding the main volcanoes.
The area surrounding the Virunga Chain is a transboundary region, it is also the most densely populated region in Africa besides the Egyptian Nile Delta. The diversity of habitats on the flanks of the mountains of the Albertine Rift house some of the rarest animal species in the world including the mountain gorillas. Such high richness in biological diversity and big scores in endemism is common to a number of montane forest ecosystems of the region: Ruwenzori, Nyungwe, Kahuzi-Biega and mostly Itombwe Mounts forests to name some examples.
Besides the Gorilla other endangered species include the Dwarf African Elephant, rare peacock species, and many other kinds of unusual mammals, reptiles and birds. The Albertine Rift has been identified as an Endemic Bird Area by Birdlife International, an Ecoregion by the World Wildlife Fund, and a Biodiversity Hotspot by Conservation International.
Below: False-color radar image of part of the Virunga Mountain Chain that forms the border region of Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda.
 The black area at the bottom of the image is the lake Kivu. Kivu is 1,042 sq mi (2,699 sq km), 55 mi (89 km) long. It is the highest lake in Africa (4,788 ft/1,459 m). It is drained by the Ruzizi River, which flows south into Lake Tanganyika. Beneath the lake lie vast reserves of methane gas which have not been exploited.
The most active peaks in the Virunga Volcanic Chain are Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira. They are characterized by extremely fluid lava flows that can travel long distances very quickly, posing an extreme hazard for nearby populated areas, such as Goma (and the surrounding Rwandan refugee camps). Also, the formation of Lake Kivu has heightened the risk of explosive activity due to magma/groundwater interactions.
 Nyiragongo is a stratovolcano. A crater at the summit of Nyiragongo contained a lava lake from 1894 to 1977. On January 10, 1977, the lava lake drained in less than one hour. The lava erupted from fissures on the flank of the volcano and moved at speeds up to 40 miles per hour (60 km/hr). About 70 people were killed. The fluid lava reached within 2,000 feet (600 m) of the Goma airport. From June 1982 to early 1983 the volcano was active with a lava lake in the crater and phreatic explosions and lava fountaining. In 2002 Nyiragongo erupted, displacing 500,000 people and destroying 14 villages and the much of the city of Goma.
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