Journey to Gorongosa National Park
April 1, 2016
After Portuguese colonial rule in Mozambique ended, a civil war raged in the country from 1977 to 1992. Wild animals were slaughtered en masse to feed hungry soldiers.
Because it lies in the central region of the country – where fighting was particularly intense – Gorongosa National Park suffered more than most other parks.
The figures read like a horror story. At the end of the war, there were only 44 hippo (down from 3 500), 15 Cape buffalo (down from 13 000), 12 zebra (down from 3 300) and just 1 lonely blue wildebeest (down from 6 400). The elephant population was reduced by 90%.
Predators like spotted hyenas and wild dogs were wiped out, and only a few lions managed to survive.
Today, wildlife numbers are increasing, thanks mostly to one individual.
Greg Carr is an American billionaire who first visited the park in 2004, and has invested more than $40 million in Gorongosa's conservation.
Greg Carr is an American billionaire who first visited the park in 2004, and has invested more than $40 million in Gorongosa’s conservation. Working with the government and local communities especially, he is slowly but surely empowering – through conservation – a whole region of one of the poorest countries in the world.
There’s still much work to be done, yes, but for me, if Africa’s wildlife is going to survive the next 100 years, then wealthy individuals and organizations like the World Bank need to follow Greg Carr’s example and commit serious funding to the cause.
Both eco-tourism and controlled hunting will never on their own be able to fund the protection, restoration and expansion of African wilderness.
It’s time to acknowledge that Africa’s wildlife is a global treasure, and deserving of billions of dollars of funding from wealthy western and Asian countries, many of which have already profited directly from the destruction of the continent’s natural resources.
Not forgetting we are all indirectly responsible in some way. It’s time to take a stand and fight for the last remaining wildlife of Africa. As Carr says: “I adore Gorongosa” – and so do I.
There’s a superbly written article from the New Yorker in 2009 which profiles Greg Carr and his work in Gorongosa. Highly recommended reading, and a PDF of it can be downloaded here – New Yorker Article – Greg Carr – Gorongosa.