Project

Mozambique: Paradise Lost, and Found?

Before the Mozambican civil war, Gorongosa National Park was among the top destinations in Africa, with a higher concentration of animals than on the famed Serengeti Plain. But during the war, soldiers and other poachers killed these vast herds, planted landmines and destroyed the park's infrastructure. By the 1990s, the park was all but abandoned. During their reporting of a multi-country series about environment and conflict, reporter Stephanie Hanes and photographer Jeff Barbee heard about an American philanthropist, Greg Carr, who was trying to revitalize Gorongosa.

The park, Carr believed, was the key to lifting this beleaguered region out of poverty. For months, Hanes and Barbee reported on Carr and Gorongosa, looking at the intersection of human rights, environmental preservation and economic development

May 11, 2007 | Smithsonian

Greg Carr's Big Gamble

Stephanie Hanes, Mozambique

In a watershed experiment, the Boston entrepreneur is putting $40 million of his own money into a splendid but ravaged park in Mozambique.

May 05, 2007 | Smithsonian

Gorongosa National Park: An introduction

In the center of Mozambique, a country of blinding white beaches and sweeping savannas, velvety green wetlands and spirit-filled forests, an American philanthropist is working to restore a long-forgotten national park; the first step, he hopes, in lifting this beleaguered region out of poverty.

April 28, 2007 | Pulitzer Center

Gorongosa National Park

Gorongosa National Park was once among the top destinations in Africa, with a greater animal concentration than on the Serengeti Plain. But during Mozambique's long civil war, soldiers and other poachers killed the animals, planted landmines and destroyed the infrastructure. For years, this beautiful landscape was all but abandoned.

April 27, 2007 | Pulitzer Center

Working with the Community

A main challenge of the Gorongosa project is convincing the people living around the park that cooperating will serve their interests. Poaching, deforestation and slash-and-burn agriculture still threaten the restoration efforts.

May 01, 2007 | General news

Paradise Lost, and Found? Panel and Reception, 05/02

Gorongosa National Park was once among the most popular destinations in Africa – a place where movie stars and astronauts vacationed, where animal herds were denser than on the famed Serengeti Plain. But Mozambique's long civil war turned this natural wonderland into a battlefield. By the time the war ended in 1992, Gorongosa was a wasted, abandoned, empty place – yet another African casualty in a century filled with tragedies.