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Virunga National Park. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 100 years of Resilience

Brent Stirton

© Brent Stirton / Getty Images
Couvent des Minimes

August 30 to September 14, 2025

10am to 8pm

Free entrance

Virunga was Africa’s first National Park, created 100 years ago. It is a unique biosphere, larger than the state of Israel. It is primordial, mythical, and beautiful. It is a unique and fragile ark under constant threat. The park has the largest grouping of endangered mountain gorillas in the world. There are elephants, chimpanzees, lions and hippos. There are active volcanos and the Rwenzori Mountain range looms over its eastern boundary. If it can be preserved, Virunga will continue to be the greatest national park in Africa.
However, in the last 30 years, it has become one of the most difficult and dangerous places in the world of conservation.
In 1994, when the Rwandan Genocide occurred, over 4 million people fled into what was then Zaire, spilling over into Virunga in what became the world’s largest refugee camp. Among those who fled were the planners and perpetrators of the genocide, who have hidden in Virunga ever since, under the banner of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

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A joint patrol by ICCN rangers and the Congolese army near Chondo, an area where the rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) are based. The FDLR was founded by Hutus who fled Rwanda after taking part in the 1994 genocide. (2012)

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Georgette Ndovya Kavugho (32 years old) was attacked by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist group that has established ties with Islamic State. According to a BBC investigation, ADF is the deadliest terrorist group operating in eastern DRC. They are believed to be responsible for more than half of all the civilian victims in this conflict.

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The fear of dying in Ndakasi’s eyes, here with her carer André Bauma from the Senkwekwe Centre, the only refuge in the world for mountain gorillas. Ndakasi survived when the rest of her family was killed in 2007. She spent the rest of her life in the company of humans and other orphaned gorillas. (2021)