The Rangers of Virunga National Park

RUMANGABO, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - NOVEMBER 24: Emmanuel De Merode, ICCN Congolese Conservation Authority Director of Virunga National Park, deals with 120 courageous ICCN Rangers as they return to their looted homes at CNDP rebel controlled Rumangabo, the ICCN Congolese Conservation authority headquarters of the Southern Sector of Virunga National Park, D.R.C, November 24, 2008. The Rangers were displaced into Internally Displaced Peoples camps after renewed fighting in the region at the beginning of October. Their base at Rumangabo had to be quickly evacuated and after the Rangers flight it was subsequently looted by various forces and civilian elements. Emmanuel De Merode, the tireless Director of Virunga National Park, has negotiated a fragile deal for ICCN's return to the Park. The Gorilla Sector of the Park has been occupied by the rebel movement CNDP under rebel Congolese Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda. Since September 2007 no ICCN Ranger has set foot in this sector, almost all had to flee the fighting and it has not been safe to return. Recent violence in the region has seen CNDP extend its power in the region and it now controls over 50% of the park and all of the Southern section. Emmanuel De Merode, the Director of Virunga National Park, has performed some remarkable diplomacy since the recent fighting and has succesfully negotiated with CNDP and General Nkunda to return the ICCN Rangers to the Park. This is a fragile process but so far 120 courageous Rangers are back at the Southern Headquarters at Rumangabo and there is a camp in the Gorilla Sector at Bukima which has begun a Gorilla census to determine the effects of the war on the mountain Gorilla population. It is a remarkable case of conservation winning out over politics. The DRC had just over 200 of the extremely rare mountain Gorillas, of which there are only 680 in the world. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)