Over the course of 18 years, photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer Brent Stirton has made 13 trips to document the promise and peril of Virunga National Park. His images from in the park and in other wildlife refuges have been widely published, including on the cover of National Geographic.
In Virunga he’s followed how, despite facing immense challenges, the park has persisted. Virunga has helped protect some of the world’s few remaining mountain gorillas, a global population that contained as few as 300 individuals in 2007 and now numbers over a thousand. The park’s leadership has also spearheaded initiatives to create sustainable hydroelectric power and small-scale farms that give the local community financial alternatives to extractive industries like mining and charcoal production.
To honor a hundred years of the park’s resilience, Stirton has created a photo book featuring images taken inside Virunga’s borders. They show some of Stirton’s most moving images from the park: a processional for a mortally wounded silverback gorilla, the powerful bond between an orphaned mountain gorilla and her caretaker, the human toll of political conflict, and the grit it takes to advocate for conservation.
Stirton’s book will be available online starting September 1, 2025 and can be ordered here.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.