Virunga: How a Park on the Verge of Collapse Became Hope for People and Nature

The birth of a small mountain gorilla again on January 8, the very first for 2020, was celebrated as a big event. This is proof of the restoration of ecosystems and the sustainable development of natural resources in this protected area declared “world heritage of humanity” and which covers 8,000 km². Virunga National Park (ViNP)… Read More

Virunga: Preserving Africa’s National Parks through People-Centred Development

Home to rare and endangered species, the Congo’s national parks are also sites of human conflict. Without addressing the material drivers behind ecological degradation, conservation risks a losing battle. For Virunga, this was not an option– as Africa’s oldest national park, tackling socio-economic challenges facing local populations was a necessity in preserving its natural heritage.… Read More

Happy Holidays: Virunga Mountain Gorilla Population Shows 5.7% Growth!

The latest Virunga Alliance report for the July-August-September 2019 quarter reports the birth of 5 new baby gorillas in Virunga National Park, located at the East of the country. However, a baby is dead. With the 4 survivors, the total number of gorillas now stands at 147 in this nature reserve. “Mountain gorillas are doing… Read More

How to Change the World? Stop Fossil Fuels, Fight for Justice, Save Virunga.

Stop Fossil Fuels, Fight for Justice, Save Virunga, Yasuni and all these other Places and Peoples You and I must take daily actions that make large-scale changes possible. Sometimes you meet someone, see a place for the first time, read a book, or watch a movie and you are reminded in one glimpse, one sentence,… Read More

Virunga: Preserving Africa’s National Parks through People-Centred Development

Home to rare and endangered species, the Congo’s national parks are also sites of human conflict. Without addressing the material drivers behind ecological degradation, conservation risks a losing battle. For Virunga, this was not an option– as Africa’s oldest national park, tackling socio-economic challenges facing local populations was a necessity in preserving its natural heritage.… Read More

Virunga: African Heritage and its Sustainable Development

The subject of African heritage and its sustainable development – or African heritage and sustainable development – has become one of the most discussed issues of late, both within and outside the continent. The discussion has not been confined only to heritage practitioners but has traversed the traditional boundaries, bringing in the practitioners, academicians, communities,… Read More

Difficult Times for Virunga and its Hydropower Plants: Time to Get the Facts Right !

Virunga National Park is under threat and witnessing an increase in attacks and misinformation around its development projects in North Kivu. Everything started a few months ago with recurrent militia attacks in and around the construction site of its third Hydropower plant of 12,8 MW close to Lubero. Making it very difficult for the park… Read More

Virunga, the wild park with fire in its soul: Come Visit!

On the edge of the DRC is a place where nature puts on such a show, it ignites passions in rangers and visitors beyond compare. Welcome to Virunga National Park, home to more species of wildlife than any other reserve in Africa. by Scott Ramsay  ‘You’re still alive!’ laughed Daniel Hanamali, our local guide. We’d… Read More

Linking Tourism and Conservation in Virunga: One of the Planets Hotspots!

Virunga was the first national park on the continent of Africa. Today the Virunga National Park of the DR Congo is part of a three countries’ (including Rwanda and Uganda) group of protected areas covering the Virunga mountains, one of the planets hotspots with mountain gorillas as flag-ship species. For much of its long history,… Read More

Virunga for Dummies: All What you Wanted to Know about Africa’s Oldest National Park

Virunga National Park was created in 1925, contained within 790,000 hectares the greatest biological diversity of any park in Africa: from steppes, savannas and lava plains, swamps, lowland and montane forests to volcanoes and the unique giant herbs and snowfields of Rwenzori over 5,000m high. Thousands of hippopotamuses lived in its rivers, its mountains are a… Read More

Creating Hope: Development is Ending Wildlife Crime in Virunga

Read here UNEP’s blog where Emmanuel de Merode writes about the work being done in Virunga to end wildlife crime through development. In a seemingly dark and tumultuous world, I find the greatest beacon of hope here in the Virunga National Park, eastern Congo. Hope that, through the efforts of those working to protect the… Read More

Virunga National Park: When Deeds Say more than Words

Sometimes it seems easier to write about conflict, than to do something about ending it. Eastern DRC does not escape this fate, in the mist of conflict and the never ending power struggles it has become  a very prolific research ground for many. We all have something to say about DRC’s conflict, about its roots, consequences and its devastating… Read More