An extraordinary look inside the home of some of the world’s last mountain gorillas

National Geographic Explorer Brent Stirton has photographed life inside Virunga National Park over the course of nearly two decades—chronicling stories of violence and resilience.

A large gorilla being carried by a group of men after being killed
Conservation rangers from a Virunga National Park anti-poaching unit work with locals to evacuate the bodies of nine severely endangered mountain gorillas killed in the park. They carry Senkwekwe, a silver-back alpha male, the leader of the group. He and seven females were shot and killed.
Photographs byBrent Stirton
Text bySarah Gibbens
September 3, 2025

For a hundred years, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Virunga National Park has protected a remarkable 3,000 square-mile stretch of nature that includes lush forests, active volcanoes, and rare wildlife including elephants, hippos, lions, and some of the last remaining mountain gorillas.

But also lurking inside the southern part of the park is the threat of violence from paramilitary organizations and insurgent rebel groups. That’s because the park borders some of Africa’s bloodiest conflict zones. In 1994, the Rwandan Genocide created roughly four million refugees, many of whom sought refuge in the park just across the border. Today, half the park is controlled by the Rwandan-backed rebel group M23.

Protecting Virunga requires 800 highly skilled park rangers willing to risk their lives for a dangerous cause; about 240 park rangers have died in the last 20 years while on duty in the park.

Over the course of 18 years, photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer Brent Stirton has made 13 trips to document the promise and peril of Virunga National Park. His images from in the park and in other wildlife refuges have been widely published, including on the cover of National Geographic.

In Virunga he’s followed how, despite facing immense challenges, the park has persisted. Virunga has helped protect some of the world’s few remaining mountain gorillas, a global population that contained as few as 300 individuals in 2007 and now numbers over a thousand. The park’s leadership has also spearheaded initiatives to create sustainable hydroelectric power and small-scale farms that give the local community financial alternatives to extractive industries like mining and charcoal production.

To honor a hundred years of the park’s resilience, Stirton has created a photo book featuring images taken inside Virunga’s borders. They show some of Stirton’s most moving images from the park: a processional for a mortally wounded silverback gorilla, the powerful bond between an orphaned mountain gorilla and her caretaker, the human toll of political conflict, and the grit it takes to advocate for conservation.

Stirton’s book will be available online starting September 1, 2025 and can be ordered here.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you begin working in Virunga National Park?

In 2007, I was working for Newsweek covering conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Myself and journalist Scott Johnson were given an assignment to cover park rangers who underwent extensive training to work in what’s essentially a combat zone. Within days there, we heard that nine gorillas had been killed. I didn’t know at the time there were fewer than 300 mountain gorillas in the world, and nine dead was a major loss.

We trekked deep into the forest and found several dead females. One of the rangers found a baby, still alive, and tucked her into his shirt. It was quite cold at the time. I didn’t know I would continue photographing this baby for the next 13 years, including the day she died.

Many of your photos feature the park’s mountain gorillas. What is it like to see these animals up close?

I think the most profound impression is how human they are. It’s like being looked at by a person. Silverback gorillas, which are so incredibly powerful, are incredibly gentle.

Even when they exhibit aggression, they’re just trying to protect their families.

They’re also very funny to watch. People who look after them know their individual characteristics. I always say if I had unlimited funds, I would like to offer everyone in the world the ability to experience nature firsthand. When you do, you see why they’re worth protecting.

They have every right to be on this planet. The same rights we do.

You’ve been working in Virunga over the course of 18 years since that 2007 trip. Why did you keep returning?

After that initial assignment, Virunga became a more personal story for me. I’ve worked in so many national parks; this is the most complex.

I have painful memories of attending funerals from slain park rangers, but I’ve also seen incredible resilience and vision from the park’s leadership. Because of conflict, they’ve had to move their headquarters three times in the last three years—but they continue despite these challenges. They go all in, 100 percent, no matter what.

It’s one of those places where it’s easy to see who’s good and who’s bad. I felt compelled to keep a record of what’s happening here. In a place like Virunga you get a full range of the human condition. Great courage. Great villainy. What visionary thinking looks like. Resilience under fire. It’s remarkable. It would have been so easy to take over this park and turn it into agriculture, but because of these people, it keeps surviving. I felt a duty of care to keep a record of that.

a landscape of the park at dusk with two volcanoes erupting in the background
Moonlit images of active volcanoes, Mount Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira, within Virunga National Park. Virunga has some of the most active volcanoes in Africa and, in times of peace, offers unique tourism trips to Nyiragongo.
a man stands with his arms behind is back as rangers surround him in the grass
One of three poachers captured from a nearby poaching camp near the park's Lake Edward. Elephants were among the targeted animals. Many of these poachers are connected to rebel groups who exploit the park for profit and survival.
A look down on the ground with various cut up animals used for meat trade
The contents of a single poacher's bag, seized by rangers after a firefight. The poacher belonged to the rebel group, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, FDLR when abbreviated in French. FDLR formed in 1995 when Hutu genocidaires fled into what's now the DRC after perpetrating the Rwandan genocide.
three gorillas sitting in the forest at Virunga
Endangered mountain gorillas have shown incredible resilience, despite the long-standing conflict in their habitat between Rwandan-backed M23 rebels and Congolese army forces. Their numbers have even slowly grown. Considering the conflict and their extreme susceptibility to human illness, this is considered something of a conservation miracle.
Dead gorilla lying on ground with a person using leaves to cover its face and lower body.
Rangers cover bullet holes in a female mountain gorilla before evacuating the bodies of nine mountain gorillas killed in mysterious circumstances in the park in 2007. A silverback alpha male named Senkwkwe was shot several times. Two of the females had babies and another was pregnant. One of the babies, later named Ndakazi, was rescued. The motivation for the killing was revealed to be an intimidation tactic by a crooked warden backed by the local charcoal mafia illegally cutting down the park's hardwood.
a caretaker sits on the floor while a gorilla sits with him
Andre Bauma, the head caregiver at Senkwekwe Mountain Gorilla orphanage, sits quietly with terminally-ill Ndakasi, an orphan he rescued from a gorilla massacre 14 years previously. At the time, Andre took her from trying to suckle from her dead mother and became her every day companion, spending more time with her than with his own children. Ndakasi developed a prolonged illness from an infection and, despite the best efforts of Gorilla Doctors, she died a few hours after this photograph.
A caretaker laying on a bed with a baby gorilla
The Senkwekwe Gorilla Orphanage caretakers interact with orphaned Mountain gorillas at the headquarters of a DRC-run conservation division. The gorillas here were orphaned after their parents were killed. Juveniles are often taken with the intent to sell them in the illegal wildlife trade. When poachers were unable to sell the babies, the orphans were abandoned and later rescued. This is the only mountain gorilla orphanage in the world, led by Andre Bauma, one of the world's leading experts in these animals.
A man wearing a suit sitting in a chair with people in military uniforms with guns near him in the park
Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda, leader of the rebel group CNDP is seen at his headquarter with bodyguards. The Rwandan-backed rebels held large parts of Virunga National Park including the gorilla sector. CNDP's occupation kept the conservation authorities out for 18 months while they tried to create their own tourism infrastructure. The CNDP movement re-emerged as M23 in 2012, again in 2017, and again in 2022. As of 2025, M23 controlled large sectors of Virunga National Park.
A truck full of people wearing military uniforms with weapons
Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seen on a road through Virunga National Park. Recent violence in the region has seen M23 extend its power in the region. As of 2025, they controlled over 50 percent of the park, including all of the southern sector.
two rangers sitting on a bed with another ranger who died after being shot
Ranger Kambale Kalibumba was killed by a rogue Congolese soldier who shot Kalikumba five times at close range. At the time, Kalikumba was in the park on the way to an outpost with rations for the patrol. In the past 20 years, 240 rangers have died while on duty.
A woman's back with multiple deep scars
Georgette Ndovya Kavugho, 32, was attacked by members of the ADF Islamist group in her farming village. They struck her with machetes, leaving deep cuts in the flesh of her arms and back and leaving her for dead as they continued to ransack her village. ADF is a terrorist group with ties to ISIS that has had bases inside Virunga National Park for over 15 years.
Land covered in bright yellow with a silhouette of a ranger in the distance
A lone ranger moves ahead of his patrol while traversing a lava field formed from a new volcanic cinder cone inside Virunga National Park. As the crust of lava cools, it can increasingly bear more weight. The lone ranger walks alone to test the ground.
Rangers using tools to hit the trees cut down for charcoal
Rangers conduct an anti-charcoal patrol in the Kibati region of Virunga National Park. They were exploring an area which had been closed to them for a year as a result of conflict. The forest had been razed and trees burned for charcoal. This area is a former chimpanzee habitat and can never be restored from this level of devastation. FDLR periodically controlled the region, making it very dangerous for rangers.
A group of people looking distressed and into the camera, holding bags used for charcoal
A group of Congolese women who work in the charcoal industry stand on the road as their illegally produced charcoal is confiscated. The area is desperately poor and charcoal is one of the few avenues to make money. To protect the park, the DRC has supported projects in hydroelectric power and sustainable agriculture.
Photograph by Brent Stirton
an aerial view of a large group of elephants walking in the park
A huge group of over 540 elephants moved from Uganda into Virunga National Park, in 2020 the largest elephant herd in the world. The elephants have since dispersed into smaller groups but remain inside Virunga.
A man reaching up and toughing cacao beans on his farm
Cacao farmer Noe Borase, 74, inspects crops on his farm in Mutsora. Noe has been a victim of the ADF rebels on multiple occasions. This groups uses terror to force the farmers to flee and then steals their lucrative crop as a means of supporting their fundamentalist agenda. Increased security and sustainable factories supported by Virunga National Park have stopped this issue. The park runs environmentally friendly soap, coffee, chocolate, and palm oil factories. All of these are powered by sustainable hydroelectricity that the park produces.
A nurse holding a new baby in a hospital with a light in the background
A baby delivered by emergency caesarian at midnight is seen in the arms of a Congolese nurse while doctors tend to the mother in the background. Mutwanga hospital was one of the first facilities in the area to benefit from electricity supplied by a Virunga National Park hydroelectric plant. These emergency surgeries would have been previously carried out by the light of parrafin lamps and head torches.
Rangers in a line walking forward through the grass with mountains in the background
Congolese rangers and army soldiers patrol the park in search of FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu-led militia movement that fled into the park after the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Despite decades of violence, the park's protectors have shown incredible resilience and commitment to protecting the rights of nature.