![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Elephants-move-back-into-Virunga-National-Park-credit-courtesy-of-Anthony-Caere-Virunga-National-Par.jpeg\")
Elephants move back into Virunga National Park \u2013 Credit: courtesy of Anthony Caere \/ Virunga National Park<\/p>\n Elephants move back into Virunga National Park \u2013 Credit: courtesy of Anthony Caere \/ Virunga National Park<\/p>\n
Things are looking up in DR Congo\u2019s Virunga Mountains, where recently scores of elephants have been returning across the border following a reduction in militia violence.<\/p>\n
Also this spring, there have been 9 healthy births recorded among the mountain gorillas, including rare twins which a ranger officer called \u201ca very encouraging sign.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/The-twins-born-to-the-Bageni-group-female-credit-courtesy-of-Virunga-National-Park.jpg\")
The twins born to the Bageni group female \u2013 credit, courtesy of Virunga National Park<\/p>\n
On the elephants, there was once thousands of African bush elephants that roamed freely between Virunga National Park in Congo and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.<\/p>\n
But since mountains, jungles, and borderlands are some of the most commonly-utilized areas for violent rebel groups around the world, and since Virunga consists of all three, the area has suffered from DR Congo\u2019s decades-long violent insurgency which poached the elephants to sustain themselves.<\/p>\n
In recent years, however, 480 elephants from the Ugandan side have been documented traveling back into Virunga, bringing with them the natural ecosystem engineering that only the world\u2019s largest terrestrial animal can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years I haven\u2019t seen any animals when I flew over this area\u2014just rebels,\u201d said<\/a> Anthony Caere, a Belgian anti-poaching helicopter pilot at Virunga National Park.<\/p>\n \u201cNow not only are we seeing the elephants, which is an unbelievable sight from above, but we\u2019re noticing the impact of such a big herd on the park. They\u2019re restoring everything back to what it was 50 years ago and doing so much faster than we could have imagined. If the elephants continue to stay here in these numbers, this place will look totally different in just a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n In particular, the elephants\u2019 massive bulk and massive appetites are cutting trails through the forest, scything back invasive shrubs, and expanding clearings. The area is beginning to look like a \u201cforested savannah\u201d again, and there have been sightings of buffalo, Ugandan kob, warthogs, topi, and even a pair of lions.<\/p>\n MORE AFRICAN PARKS: <\/strong>Wildlife Poachers to Be Targeted Using State of the Art AI Listening Technology<\/a><\/p>\n Virunga is the oldest national park on the continent, and plays host to extraordinary biodiversity. Receiving millions in aid money from Re:Wild, Global Wildlife Conservation, the EU, and other organizations including from a fund established by Hollywood A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio, it has been able to successfully scale back poaching and implement development programs to try and steer impoverished locals away from illegal agriculture, poaching, or militia life.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not only elephants that have benefitted from this stability, but the area\u2019s famous mountain gorillas. A female in the largest gorilla family group in the park, the 59-member-strong Bageni family, was recently observed to have given birth to twins, who are now two months old.<\/p>\n WILDLIFE IN CONFLICT ZONES: <\/strong>Critically-Endangered West African Lion Going from Strength to Strength in Niokolo Koba, Senegal<\/a><\/p>\n Jacques Katutu, head of gorilla monitoring, said they are developing well, and that their mother is managing the demands of two babies, which is uncommon among gorillas.<\/p>\n