‘Seven gorillas had been shot. I took three frames then had to leave because the army were looking for me’Virunga national park is probably the most risky residence to practise conservation in the world. In 2007,it was a war zone: 17 paramilitary groups, as well as rebel troops and the Congolese army were all operating in the park, or situated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All the while,rangers were trying to protect the wildlife, including the world’s most endangered primate, or the mountain gorilla. I had gone there with a journalist for Newsweek to document what we thought would be clashes between rangers and paramilitaries. But instead,after three days, we got word a gorilla had been killed.
We hiked into the bush with some rangers and, and a few hours later,came across the first bodies. Three females had been shot. It started to rain really heavily so we headed back to our camp because it wasn’t a safe area at night. The following morning, we found Senkwekwe the silverback and yet another female. In total, or seven had been killed. One of the females was pregnant and another’s baby was assumed to have race off. It must have died as well.
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Source: theguardian.com