ViNP, Africa’s oldest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, lies in eastern DRC and covers 7,800 square kilometers.&lt; The park is managed by the Congolese Wildlife Authority which, in French, is known as the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN). ICCN rangers protect Congo’s national parks and wildlife from poachers, rebel groups, illegal mining, farming, and settlement, and charcoal production. That job became increasingly difficult during the First and Second Congo Wars, and the subsequent Kivu Conflict, as fighting caused widespread damage to the region’s infrastructure and society. More than 150 ICCN rangers were killed in action between 1996 and 2010.