At the ripe age of 15, I did a work placement for my school at WWF - UK. That’s when I heard about Virunga National Park for the first time. A few months later, they officially launched their campaign against Soco, a British company seeking to drill oil in the National Heritage site - which was completely prohibited by Congolese law.

4 years later, as a young conservationist completing her second year at university, and preparing an internship at The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya, I thought it was the right time for me to visit Virunga. Things were more stable politically, although with Kabila cancelling the elections in the DRC -meant to take place on 21st August 2017 - I didn’t know if I’d have another opportunity.

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