Home » Africa: Congo losing Tourism Money due to the Closure of Virunga Gorilla park

Africa: Congo losing Tourism Money due to the Closure of Virunga Gorilla park

by Atqnews23
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virunga, Gorillas

The closure of the famous Virunga Gorilla Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has left the country with huge financial losses from tourism owing to the continued violence in areas in and around the park.

The park which is home to rare endangered species is not alien to attacks from militia men wanting assert their supremacy in the border region between Rwanda and Uganda.

According to a report by atqnews.com, the park had an indefinite closure to visitors May 11, 2018 following the release of two British tourists, who were kidnapped along with their driver in the Nyiragongo territory, north of Goma.

A 25-year-old female park ranger was killed in the ambush. There’s no word yet on when the park will be reopened to travelers.

The DRC is currently listed at Level 3 on the U.S State Department’s four-level travel advisory list, urging Americans to “reconsider travel” to the country due to “crime and civil unrest.”

Also, capitalfm.co.ke reports that kidnappings and murder have forced the famed Virunga wildlife park in to close for visitors until 2019, the authorities said Monday.

Africa’s oldest national park, famed for its population of mountain gorillas, has been plagued by the wave of violence that has been wracking eastern DR Congo for years.

It is clear that the Virunga region is deeply affected by insecurity and that this will be the case for a certain time,” park director Emmanuel de Merode said in a statement.

“So that Virunga can be visited in safety, much more robust measures are needed than in the past,” the Belgian added.

“That will require very significant investment and that makes it impossible to reopen to tourism this year.”

Then on May 21 two soldiers and a civilian were murdered by armed men who attacked a convoy driving through the park.

On April 9, five rangers and a driver were killed.

In the last 20 years at least 176 rangers have been killed in Virunga. De Merode survived an attack in 2014.

“We have called on a respected international security service to carry out an audit of our security measures,” the park statement said.
Numerous militia and armed gangs roam North Kivu province near the Rwanda and Uganda borders fighting for control of territorial and natural resources.

Established in 1925 close by Lake Kivu and the Nyiragongo volcano, Virunga is home to about a quarter of the world’s population of critically endangered mountain gorillas, as well as to eastern lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, okapis, lions, elephants and hippos.

Long hampered by unrest and civil war, tourism in the park picked up four years ago and had been steadily growing. Last week’s kidnappings were the first reported incident of hostility against travelers. Last month, six park rangers were killed in an ambush by MaiMai militia in an area of the park where travelers don’t generally visit.

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