Congo national park closure

This item appears on page 4 of the August 2018 issue.

On May 11 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a park ranger was killed and three people were abducted while visiting Virunga National Park (July ’18, pg. 19). As a result, in early June the park was closed to visitors until at least 2019. The chief warden said that the park would remain closed until he could guarantee the safety of visitors. An international security firm was hired to help restore safety. 

Virunga National Park is home to DRC’s only population of mountain gorillas.