Story

Environment at Risk

April 21, 2007 | Pulitzer Center
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Unlike most game reserves, the Gorongosa National Park has a natural, year-long supply of water. A vast stream and river system begins on nearby Gorongosa Mountain and flows into the park, creating an expanding and contracting wetland system

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Morumbodzi Waterfall is one of the many cascades falling from the high plateau of Gorongosa Mountain.

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The water that comes off of Gorongosa Mountain feeds the unique ecosystem of the park - an expanding and contracting wetland system that provides water year round.

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In recent years, villagers from communities around Gorongosa Park have been climbing farther up the mountain to clear land for machambas, or small farms. This deforestation threatens the park's ecosystem.

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Sana Joao with her grand children – from left to right Sica, Domingo, Rociano and Alasmo. They live on the slopes of Gorongosa Mountain and speak the language unique to the mountain - chi-Gorongose.

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Locals clear the forests in order to plant their fields.

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Deforestation on Gorongosa Mountain threatens the year-round water supply to Gorongosa National Park. Trees help capture water and prevent erosion.

Water flowing off the mountain creates the park's unique wetland system – the environment that allowed such huge herds of animals. But deforestation is threatening the mountain and its water supply – and the future of the park itself.