Emmanuel De Merode was born on May 5, 1970. Since 2008, he has been the director of Virunga National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He was born in Northern Africa at Carthage, Tunisia when his father was on a diplomatic mission. Emmanuel De Merode is a conservationist, Anthropologist, and a pilot.
Emmanuel De Merode announced that he is aiming to raise $ 1,000,000 by participating in virgin money London marathon aiming to raise $1m. He hopes that the money raised will aid in safeguarding the future of Virunga National Park. Only 1000 gorillas exist in the whole world. Virunga National park is home to a quarter of these mountain gorillas. It is also the home to over 1000 bird and mammal species.
In a documentary released in 2014, Emmanuel De Merode and his team try to defend the park from oil extraction, poaching, and violence. This is probably the reason why unknown people tried to assassinate Emmanuel De Merode on 15 April 2014. During the attack, Emmanuel De Merode was hit by the bullets two times in his chest. One bullet punctured his liver while the other punctured his lung.
Another reason why he is running the campaign is to help the families whose rangers have died in service to the park. Virunga National Park is one of the most dangerous parks in the world. More than 150 rangers have died on duty. This is the reason why he is seeking endowment funds for the families affected. Virunga National Park has around 600 employees. Each of the employees has at least 6 people depending on them.
Caption: Emmanuel de Merode Virunga National ParkSource: The Daily Beast
Virunga National Park has some supporters in very high places. Some of them include; Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jessica Chastain, Richard Branson among others. All of them are willing to assist Emmanuel De Merode in raising the $ 1,000,000. Besides that, Paul Leander-Engström has made a very generous contribution to the course through his foundation. Paul Leander-Engström foundation is called The World We Want Foundation.He also made it clear that every donation up to $ 500,000 will be matched. This is a huge step on Emmanuel’s dream to raise the $ 1,000,000 for his people.
