Critically EndangeredWhite-backed Vulture
Gyps africanus
Africa
Burundi occupies the eastern edge of the Albertine Rift, with a mountain crest that separates the Nile and Congo basins and drops sharply towards Lake Tanganyika. That lake, one of the oldest and deepest in the world, is the country's great natural heritage: its waters hold an extraordinary assemblage of fish that evolved there and exist nowhere else. In the western mountains, Kibira park keeps montane rainforest continuous with Rwanda's Nyungwe, with chimpanzees, colobus and a rich forest birdlife. To the east, Ruvubu park protects a savannah crossed by the river of the same name, with buffalo, hippopotamuses and antelopes. The Rusizi wetlands, at the mouth of the river of the same name, concentrate hippopotamuses, crocodiles and waterbirds.
National animal: No official national animal; the lion appears in the symbolism of the state
In Lake Tanganyika hundreds of cichlid fish species have evolved that live nowhere else, with astonishingly specialised ways of life. Some are tiny and spend their whole existence inside empty snail shells lying on the bottom, which they use as home, refuge and nest, defending them against intruders as though they were property.
Deforestation for firewood and cultivation and the silting of the rivers affect both Kibira and the water quality of Lake Tanganyika. Overfishing of the lake sardine compromises a protein source that is essential to the lakeside population.
Rusizi at dawn for hippopotamuses and crocodiles. Kibira in the dry season for chimpanzees and forest birds. The shores of Lake Tanganyika for cichlids with mask and snorkel.
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Same region: East Africa and the Horn of Africa
Same region: East Africa and the Horn of Africa
Same region: East Africa and the Horn of Africa
Same region: East Africa and the Horn of Africa
174 species found
Based on what we already know about Burundi.
