The Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has closed to tourists until June 4.

The announcement comes after two British tourists were kidnapped on May 11 and later released. Their ranger, 25-year-old Rachel Masika Baraka, was killed in the ambush.

Until the attacks last week, no incidents against tourists had been reported in the park. The kidnapping was resolved through co-operation between Congolese authorities, senior park staff and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 

In a statement released by the park on May 14 regarding the closure, park management said: “We sincerely apologise to those visitors that have been impacted, and are committed to resolving their queries to the best of our ability. Our tourism team is on standby to discuss questions and provide options to guests who have visits pending or are considering coming to Virunga.” The statement reiterated the success of the park since it reopened: “Since tourism was relaunched in 2014, the Park has received over 17 000 visitors.”

The park, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1979, covers 7 800 square kilometres (3 000 square miles) and is home to a quarter of the world's mountain gorilla population as well as lowland gorillas, indigenous fish species and a number of volcanoes.

Virunga has been under siege from rebel groups since former President Mobutu Sese Seko’s control over the region began to wane in the early 1990s. In 1994, Unesco placed Virunga on its endangered heritage sites list. Over the following two decades, the park suffered hugely from poaching, illegal fishing, destruction of infrastructure and deforestation, all related to armed militia in the area.

In 2008, the position of Chief Warden of the park was taken over by Belgian prince and anthropologist Emmanuel de Merode. De Merode began training Virunga’s rangers in tactics used by European special forces to combat rebel groups and by 2014 the gorilla population had quadrupled and the environment had been largely restored. It was only then that Virunga was reopened to tourists. Tourism in the park brings in annual revenue of US$2m (€1.6m) and Virunga employs more than 500 rangers. Being a ranger at Virunga is considered one of the most dangerous jobs in conservation. Since the beginning of 2018, eight Virunga rangers have been killed in clashes with rebels.