The hot springs at Maya Moto, Virunga National Park, Congo (Democratic Republic)

"Virunga National Park (809,000 ha.) was the first national park created in Africa (Albert National Park, 1925); the area in the Virungas comprises the flanks of volcanic Mts Karisimbi, Mikeno, Visoke, Sabinyo, Nyamuragira and Nyiragongo. All of the Park's waters flow into the Nile system except for the Lake Kivu drainage which flows to the Congo. Biotopes include lakes at various elevations, marshy deltas and peat bogs, hot springs (at Ma-yamoto) and saline soils in the Rwindi plains, steppes, savannahs and lava plains, lowland equatorial forest, dry and transitional forests, high montane forests, and alpine heath in the Rwenzori (Ruwenzori). The whole length of the Park is bordered to the west by unprotected but species-rich forested mountains." This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon traveled to Africa from March 17, 1970 to July 17, 1970.