A fire raging in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park since the weekend does not currently pose a threat to the world's last surviving mountain gorillas, officials told Radio Rwanda on Tuesday.

"The fire is continuing but everyone has been mobilised," said Rosette Chantal Rugambwa, director of the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks.

She said the blaze, which has destroyed "between 100 and 200 hectares", has not affected tourism in the region because the gorillas are a long way from the area threatened by the fire.

According to Radio Rwanda, army helicopters have been helping to contain the fire.

The government-run station said the blaze, which broke out at the foot of the Muhabura volcano, was the fault of a farmer who did not properly extinguish a fire he had lit while collecting honey from a hive.

Rugambwa urged park residents to take extra care when lighting fires during the dry season.

There are an estimated 700 surviving mountain gorillas in the world. They live in national parks straddling the borders between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.