- The international community has set ambitious goals to protect nature, the latest aiming to conserve 30% of the planet by 2030. Rangers are at the center of this effort. According to the International Ranger Federation, they play a crucial role in protecting protected areas and achieving global conservation targets.
- But in many protected areas, rangers are increasingly exposed to violence, often confronting armed groups with limited support, particularly in unstable regions such as eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
- For Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo, this reality is not abstract — it is deeply personal. In 2018, he narrowly survived an attack by Mai-Mai fighters (an armed group operating in the DRC). Unlike many rangers who have lost their lives protecting nature in eastern DRC, he survived. More than 100 rangers are believed to have been killed in Virunga National Park over the past decade.
- Seeking to shed light on the realities and working conditions of rangers in the DRC, Bahati recently published a book titled Conservation at the Cost of My Youth: The Survival of a Ranger, in which he recounts the life of a ranger in eastern DRC.
In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa, protecting nature can cost you your life. For years, rangers operating in parks such as Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega have worked amid armed groups, illegal natural resource trafficking, community tensions, and chronic violence that has already claimed the lives of hundreds of their colleagues. Yet despite their central role in protecting biodiversity and some of the world’s most important forests, many continue to work with little support, low salaries, and highly precarious conditions.
For Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo, this reality is deeply personal. A former Virunga ranger who is now an official at Kahuzi-Biega National Park, he survived a deadly ambush in 2018 by a community-based militia group known locally as Mai-Mai. Several of his colleagues were killed in the ambush. Shot, psychologically traumatized, and later prosecuted in a military court in a case linked to park protection, he could have walked away. Instead, Bahati chose to tell his story in a book titled Conservation at the Cost of My Youth: The Survival of a Ranger, a raw account of the sacrifices, fears, political pressures, and often invisible realities faced by forest rangers in eastern DRC.
In this interview with Mongabay, Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo reflects on his journey, the ambush that nearly killed him, the trauma experienced by rangers, the conflicts between conservation and local community survival, and the political interference complicating the protection of protected areas. Beyond the personal story, however, his testimony is also a call to action: to finally recognize rangers as essential actors in global conservation — before they become dead heroes.
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo told Mongabay that political pressure remains one of the main challenges facing conservation in the DRC, with rangers sometimes attacked, beaten, detained, or taken to court in cases linked to protected areas.
Mongabay: What motivated you to write this book?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: My motivation comes from several things. Very early on, I realized that conservation actors were not telling their own stories. It is often journalists, researchers, or historians who write about us, even though they do not live what we live.
I am a field actor. I know the sleepless nights, the threats, the separation from family, the daily hardships. I told myself that I had to write something, even something small, so the world could understand the conditions under which rangers work, especially in the parks of eastern DRC.
I also wanted to challenge the Congolese state. We do immense work to protect humanity and yet there is no real recognition. Rangers are often considered heroes only when they die. I do not like this idea that one becomes a hero only after death. Rangers should be recognized while they are still alive.
Mongabay: Were you not afraid to write this book and point fingers at certain politicians?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: I chose this profession knowing the risks. When I saw the challenges and hardships linked to conservation, I told myself they had to be confronted.
The involvement of certain political figures in the destruction of parks is a reality. Some illegally occupy parts of protected areas. And when rangers or conservation officials oppose them, they become targets.
Personally, I have been arrested, prosecuted, attacked by soldiers and politicians because I refused to collaborate in the destruction of the park. I have seen many colleagues die. I have attended many ranger funerals. At some point, you feel you have to speak out.
Mongabay: What pushed you, at such a young age, to join this field despite the risks and insecurity?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: I joined the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) while I was still a student. I had studied nature conservation at the Higher Institute of Tourism and Management.
At first, I was in contact with Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park. I sometimes delivered letters to the park. One day he asked me what I was studying, and I answered “conservation.” He was someone who greatly motivated me.
I was impressed by the way he treated rangers. One day, he personally transported an injured ranger to the hospital in his own vehicle. That stayed with me.
Later, when ranger recruitment opened, I applied. At the time I was young and athletic; I played football. I was selected and trained in Rumangabo (Rumangabo is a military base located in north of Goma in Nord Kivu).
Mongabay: How did your family react when you chose this path?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: I was fortunate to have parents who allowed me to choose my own path. They never imposed a career on me.
But later, because of the dangers of the profession, many members of my family became worried. After the ambush in which almost my entire team was killed, several relatives came to see me in the hospital and asked me to quit the job.
But for me, stopping would have felt like abandoning the memory of my fallen colleagues. Continuing was a way of honoring them.
Mongabay: Let’s talk about that 2018 ambush. You recount it in the book. Can you tell us what happened?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: At the time, I commanded a special park unit tasked with combating armed groups. Our mission included securing certain areas of the park and protecting the construction of an electric fence intended to reduce conflicts between elephants and local communities.
On April 9, 2018, we had gone out to supervise a team rotation. On the road, in an area called Oro, we fell into an ambush. It was in a savanna — a place where no one would have expected an attack.
Gunfire started immediately. The driver panicked. The vehicle fell into a ditch. Several colleagues were killed on the spot. I myself was wounded. I managed to take cover and return fire.
I was hit by several bullets, my weapon jammed, but I managed to repair it under fire. Eventually I escaped to a safer area before being evacuated to the hospital.
That day, we lost six people: five rangers and one civilian driver.
Mongabay: After the attack, did you receive sufficient psychological support?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: I suffered psychological trauma. Thanks to Director de Merode, I received care from a psychologist in Goma for three months. I later left field operations for an administrative position while recovering. But the reality is that there is almost no psychological support for most rangers. Many suffer in silence. The Congolese state should establish a support system for these men and women who carry so much trauma.
Being a ranger is extremely traumatic. Sometimes you spend months away from your family. You live under constant pressure. There should be a real psychological support mechanism for rangers.
Mongabay: You also mentioned salaries. What is the situation today?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: A ranger’s salary is extremely low. We survive thanks to bonuses paid by private partners or NGOs. These amounts have not increased despite rising prices and growing risks.
Yet a ranger works day and night, far from family, in war zones. Our children should at least have access to decent education if an officer dies in service.
Honestly, rangers hardly have a real salary. What allows us to survive are mainly the bonuses provided by international partners. But with the war and rising living costs, those bonuses are no longer enough. Yet the risks increase every day.
Mongabay: Tell us about the Nzulo case, that you describe in the book, which led to your detention.
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: Nzulo is west of Goma. Politicians and customary chiefs seized park land there. When I tried to enforce the law, they accused me of looting and violence. Nine soldiers came to arrest me. I was beaten and detained for two hours in a cell.
Since then, I have been summoned every week before the military court on baseless accusations. Behind all this is politics. But I keep my head high.
Mongabay: In your book, you also explain that some local communities viewed you as a “bad person.” Why?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: Because our job is to fight illegal activities inside the park. In some very poor communities, that makes you an enemy.
People I had known since childhood told me: “The white people will leave, but you will remain here.”
For me, the solution lies in participatory conservation. Communities must understand that protecting the park is also in their interest. Economic alternatives and jobs around the parks must be created.
That is why we launched projects with young people, especially around sports. I created a football school to bring young people closer to rangers and promote conservation.
Mongabay: You also mentioned political interference in park management. How serious is the problem?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: It is a huge problem. Some politicians manipulate local populations by promising them access to park land in exchange for votes.
This encourages illegal occupation, resource exploitation and sometimes even armed groups. Then it is the rangers who have to deal with the consequences on the ground.
Mongabay: Today, with the war between M23 (paramilitary rebel group) and the government, what is the impact on conservation?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: The damage is enormous. There is major deforestation, illegal logging and mining, and widespread destruction of natural habitats.
Today, some park areas are practically inaccessible. We are in a very complicated situation.
Mongabay: What type of support would truly make a difference for rangers?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: First, security. Then decent working conditions and better pay. Rangers should also have the assurance that their children will be able to study and live properly. Many sacrifice their entire lives to protect these spaces.
Mongabay: Despite everything, you continue this work. When you look at your children, what future do you hope for conservation?
Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: I hope to one day see our parks once again become places visited by tourists from all over the world. Our landscapes are among the most beautiful and biodiverse on Earth, but we are unable to benefit from this wealth because of conflict. My dream is to see Kahuzi-Biega, Virunga, Maïko and other parks become symbols of peace and prosperity again.
Banner image: Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo is currently deputy director of Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Image courtesy of Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo.
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