Fighting Ebola in a park that’s home to rare gorillas : NPR
Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is home to several hundred mountain gorillas — about a third of the population. Rangers are setting up checkpoints to screen visitors for Ebola and trying to protect the primates, who are very vulnerable to the virus. Roberto Schmidt/AFP/via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Roberto Schmidt/AFP/via Getty Images When Emmanuel de Merode looks around, it’s a picture of serenity. “Most evenings there are elephants crossing the river and pods of hippos,” says de Merode, director of the Virunga National Park, which encompasses about 2 million acres in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Mitumba Mountains, home to lowland gorillas, rise up before him. Behind him are the Rwenzori Mountains with glaciers and snow-capped tops beside the equator. “It is one of the most beautiful places in the world,” he says. But beyond this picturesque scene, there is a volatile combination of brutal rebel violence and a burgeoning Ebola outbreak. De Merode and his team of over 800 park rangers are on the front lines as …
