Relocating and Rebuilding Rebuilding wouldn’t be simple.


I thought about this a few years ago as I peeked into a large pen near the entrance to the park. Inside, zebras chewed a bale of dry grass. We had brought these zebras to


Gorongosa from another part of Africa. Our plan was to let them go to rebuild the large herds that once lived here. Yet, I worried that as soon as they were released, the zebras would be in danger. Lions would prey on them. Poachers would hunt them. So first, we first moved the zebras


to a larger pen. We had built an electrified fence around this pen to keep lions and poachers out. Only aſt er the herd had grown bigger and stronger did we plan to let the zebras go free. We’ve done the same thing for


other animals, as well. In the last ten years, we’ve let buff aloes, hippos, wildebeests, and elephants go back to the wild. We brought each of these animals from other parks in Africa. T is process is usually fairly easy.


Sometimes, we have to place animals in the safe pen with the electric fence. At other times, we can let animals go directly into the park.


16 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


Bouncing Back So far, the park is on the mend. We’ve


tripled the number of elephants to 500 individuals. We’ve increased the number of hippos more than four times to 440. And we’ve increased the number of buff aloes to 700. Antelopes are Gorongosa’s real


success story. Waterbuck, just one antelope species, have increased from fewer than 300 to more than 34,000 individuals. Slowly, we’re seeing these kinds of successes. I know that if we work hard enough, we can bring Gorongosa back.


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