Gorongosa

Hunkering down day in and day out in a cubicle in Washington generates a certain amount of separation from the reason you’re there, from the people you got into development to help. So in my MOU I’d negotiated one of my duties/responsibilities to be a site visit, where I could go to see for myself what USAID is doing. Honest to goodness, that’s all I wanted to see... Okay, with plans to tack on a trip at the end. A personal trip never happened, but what I got instead, and I am NOT complaining, was a USAID-funded trip to a national park. And for anyone concerned about their tax dollars, I promise I did work. No. Really.

Gorongosa has a pretty wild history. It’s Mozambique’s big success story, and everyone loves the place because of what its restoration means for how far the country has come since war. After Mozambique achieved independence and the Portuguese jumped ship, the party claiming power (FRELIMO – and they’re still in power) established itself as a communist government. This freaked out the surrounding countries, who started supporting the opposition group, RENAMO. RENAMO camped out anywhere they could, eventually attacking the park’s camp, kidnapping a couple of the staff. From that point on, the park closed and transformed into a battleground – you can still see where the shells gutted the camp’s dormitories and offices.

Needless to say, this didn’t bode well for the wildlife. Besides becoming casualties of combat, the animals were hunted for their goods, which were sold in exchange for weapons, and for meat to feed both the soldiers and surrounding villagers, who the rebels kept from making a living or feeding themselves any other way. The zebras were completely wiped out. So were the lions. The buffalos, the elephants, the hippos.

Cue Greg Carr, a Michigan man. From what I understand, he made all his money as the creator of voice mail (not answering machines), and maybe SMS. He started the Greg Carr Foundation and invested heavily in the park, so much so that the foundation and the Gorongosa Restoration Project became one in the same. They’ve built a wildlife sanctuary, have reintroduced elephants from Kruger (see pic from a press release) and may have zebras from Zimbabwe in their future. They have invested in the surrounding community as well, which is key since though the war is long gone, there is still lots of poaching that goes on, not to mention cutting for timber and slashing and burning to clear land for cultivation.

While I was there I was checking up on their branding and marking, making sure the USAID brand was visible (we have a big issue with no one knowing who we are since we give the money but never get out there and actually implement the activities); helping them improve their monitoring and evaluation plan; and collecting information for “success stories,” which continually heightened my opinion of the work they’re accomplishing there. They are doing some pretty innovative stuff with waste management, including fashioning stylish sandals out of tire treads. And some of the community members are really getting on board, like this dude who grows saplings and donates them to schools for planting. Overall, awesome learning experience.

I stayed in a sweet little grass-roof chalet - sweet because it had hot running water, a comfy bed, open windows and cool, still nights. And it looked authentic. I met Andy, a TDYer in from Washington, who was ensuring proper inclusion of biodiversity into the reforestation project. I also got to meet Greg. He’s a pretty cool dude. Friendly, definitely ambitious, and clearly knows what he wants done and how. When he comes to the park he’s got lots of business to do and some bigwigs along for the trip, so they bring in a helicopter. They had it then, and I was promised a ride if they could fit me, which sadly never came to pass. Very admirable that they’re responsible with their funds, but I admit I was jumping up and down a little bit when I thought I was getting on.
The park is different from what you imagine an African safari park to be. It’s got a lot of brush and is a little more temperate than most, rain-forest like at times. Amazing bird life. I never thought I’d be into birds but these lilac-breasted rollers were brilliant. We saw some crocodiles, about nine kinds of antelope, baboons, monkeys, and a ton of warthogs. Not surprisingly given the numbers, no elephants and no lions, but I’m counting on those at Kruger. I asked about going running in the camp, and they recommended the nearby dilapidated football field for laps … followed by a warning that they’d discovered fresh lion tracks. Um, no thanks. I want to stay alive more than I want to stay in shape.