All language subtitles for Gorongosa.Paradise.Reborn.2022

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30 years ago,
elephant Mwana Nzo and

her family were
running for their lives.

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Then a young calf, she
could only watch in fear as

the animals of
Gorongosa National Park became

tragic casualties of
Mozambique’s 16 years of war.

Flash forward
almost two decades.

Oh, the
other ones are coming, too.

Mwana Nzo is still there, right?

Oh.

This is
Mwana Nzo and her family now.

Oh, now
they’re getting our wind.

Oh, wow,
Mwana Nzo is coming!

Mwana Nzo
is a survivor, but they say

elephants never forget.

And this elephant’s memories
have left her with three-tons of attitude.

These elephants have a
culture of fear and aggression

toward people based on bad
experiences and it’s going to

take time for them to
change their perspective.

I mean it’s terrifying
but I’m not afraid because

the behavior is so fantastic.

That’s why you have to just stay
and film while they’re charging you,

otherwise you
wouldn’t get your answers.

What’s going on
here is a large-scale,

a grand experiment in, in a,
in a thriving ecosystem that's

coming back after
a major disturbance.

That’s a very rare
thing to be happening.

On the
continent of Africa,

on the south-eastern coast,
is the nation of Mozambique.

Here, Gorongosa National Park
is a million acres of some of

the most diverse
ecosystems on earth.

One of the most
amazing things about this park,

we have here almost every
type of natural habitat that

you would find in this type...

In this part of Africa.

They range
from Afromontane meadows

to rainforests,

to Savannahs,

to a vast network
of rivers, lakes, and marshes.

Many years ago, it was an Eden
so filled with animals it was called,

“The place Noah left his ark.”

In the 1950s and ‘60s,

Gorongosa was a
popular tourist destination

for the rich and famous.

But in the mid-1970s,
everything changed.

A war for independence
from Portugal began,

followed by a civil war
that raged until 1992.

For almost two decades,
the combatants used the park

as a bank and a larder.

Of 2,000 elephants, they killed
90% for ivory to buy guns,

leaving a terrible void.

PEDRO (off-screen): I knew
this Gorongosa National Park

before restoration.

We used to spend three weeks
to come across with a elephant,

single elephant.

They slaughtered
the herbivores for their meat.

From 3,500 hippos,
there were fewer than 100.

Cape buffalo plunged
from 14,000 to below 50.

Zebras from
3,300 to not even 20.

And wildebeest from 6,400
to barely more than a dozen.

The predators in the
ecosystem fared just as badly.

Before the war, there
were a couple hundred lions

in the park, in Gorongosa.

So, we went from a couple
of hundred lions to under ten.

We saw multiple generations
of lions lost over that time,

so it was pretty
devastating to the population.

Hyenas, wild dogs,

and leopards were all
but wiped out completely.

The word Gorongosa
means “Place of danger,”

in the Mwani language
and for the animals,

it had become just that.

When the guns
finally went silent,

so too had the sounds
of thundering hooves,

trumpeting elephants,
and roaring lions.

GREG (off-screen): I first
saw Gorongosa National Park

in about 2004 and I
could drive all day long,

and it was eerie
because there, there...

There weren’t even
birds in the trees.

The park had truly
lost its wildlife.

So, in 2008,

Greg Carr, in cooperation with
the government of Mozambique...

Okay!

Began to breathe new
life into this land of the dead.

Congratulations,
you made it.

Long trip.
Yeah, a long trip.

Say hi.
A long trip.

Oh, I can see a trunk.

Yeah.
Wow.

I am, uh, so
excited that you made it.

This is history for Gorongosa.

Yeah, they
are beautiful animals.

He started the
Gorongosa Restoration Project,

a 20-year commitment to
help restore the park to

its former glory,
one species at a time.

GREG (off-screen): One might think
of the restoration of Gorongosa Park as

an extraordinary
natural experiment.

What I mean by that is almost all the
wildlife were removed here.

Now, scientists from around the
world get to follow the process

of the recovery of
all that wildlife.

I, I do believe that the
Gorongosa Restoration Project is

one of the
most ambitious, and largest, uh,

definitely on the
African continent and

probably on the,
one the global scale.

It takes the
work of many scientists,

but just as importantly,

the commitment of the
people living around the park.

PAOLA (off-screen): We are co-existing
with human communities in

this landscape.

Lions and people live together.

And what impacts people
eventually impacts lions.

And, uh, that’s why we
have the approach that we do

at the
Gorongosa Restoration Project.

Now,
about 15 years in,

the grand
experiment is succeeding.

But there are challenges
and mysteries lurking around every bush.

Take the elephants, for example.

From just 300 after the war,

their numbers have more
than tripled to almost 1,000.

They’re coming back strong.

The trouble is,
sometimes too strong.

It’s all right, girl.

It’s all right, it's all right.

Elephant
behavior biologist Joyce Poole

began studying the
Gorongosa elephants in 2011.

JOYCE (off-screen): These elephants
are more aggressive than other elephants

I’ve experienced.

They’re more fearful.

They have a lot of
reasons to be that way.

But these elephants would
have seen terrible things,

terrible things.

I mean...

Mortars and automatic weapons

and helicopters, bad,
as bad as it gets.

Because
elephants are so long-lived,

many remember the violent deaths
of their beloved family members

and that’s left deep scars.

JOYCE (off-screen): Part of what
I’m here to do is to think through what

should be the strategy
for visitors to the park.

How should they, uh,
react to elephants?

How should they
behave around elephants?

Well we just, we just saw
some elephants that we were looking for.

Well, you spotted them.

Well done because they’re
pretty camouflaged there.

Joyce and
fellow elephant expert,

Petter Granli, were teaching
Dominique Gonçalves to identify

and interpret elephant behavior.

Dominique has since become
the park’s elephant ecologist.

Mwana Nzo is one of
her best-known residents.

What do you think of her?

Wow, I...

Well, she’s very strong and
I mean she leads everyone else.

And when she, I just get a little bit
worried when she comes.

But then it was fine.

And, well, what
else should I say?

She’s wild!

I like her a lot, yeah.

DOMINIQUE (off-screen): My
first impression of Mwana Nzo

it was a huge surprise.

Mwana Nzo is a, is
a beautiful elephant.

She’s actually tuskless.

She has no tusks.

The left ear has
big hole or notch,

a very prominent
characteristic that

really helps us recognize her.

But even without that, I
think we would really recognize

Mwana Nzo just
because of her behavior.

She’s fierce.

She’s very protective,
defensive and she would

basically bring everyone
with her to charge you.

So, that’s Mwana Nzo.

Mwana Nzo is a
member of the Mabenzi family,

a close-knit, multi-generational
group of about 40 elephants.

Like all elephant families,
it’s led by a matriarch,

and composed of grandmothers,
moms, daughters, and aunts.

Charging, and other
aggressive behaviors,

are defensive
mechanisms shared with

other traumatized
elephants in Africa.

But can the Gorongosa elephants
learn to trust people and relax?

DOMINIQUE (off-screen): It’s going to take
a lot of time and work and

most importantly it’s going to
take a lot of good behavior and

respect on our side towards elephants
for them to heal and maybe forgive us.

Beautiful.

JOYCE (off-screen): So, our approach
has been to stay much further away

from them and, uh, hope that that's gonna
keep them from charging us,

and also allow
them to get used to us.

It hasn't necessarily
worked with everybody.

We're on a learning curve still.

Finding
answers is a challenge,

but it’s a chance to
understand behaviors that could

help distressed
elephants throughout Africa.

Keeping
Gorongosa’s elephants healthy

and happy is
important for many reasons.

One is that the forests
and grasslands depend on them.

Because of
the quantities they consume,

they keep this forest
or savannah in check.

They are the ones who
keep it as gardeners,

trimming the trees and, you know,
allowing other species to grow,

and that’s why we call
them gardeners of the park.

Just as important
to the ecosystem are the other herbivores.

Wildfires took a
terrible toll after the war,

because there were
too few browsers and

grazers to keep
the plants in check.

Some species were so devastated,

it required special
measures to bring them back.

Take the zebra.

If elephants are
the gardeners of the forests,

zebra are the
lawnmowers of the plains.

They crop tall grasses into short lawns
that other herbivores prefer.

But zebra took a
major hit during the war,

and they just
weren’t recovering.

MATEUS (off-screen): So we would hope
that the zebra would have, uh,

come back themselves.

And it hasn’t.

The numbers are stagnant,
so we have to intervene.

One way to
build up their numbers and

improve their gene pool was to move
some zebra from a nearby location

that had plenty into Gorongosa.

But there’s no
simple way to do that.

They’d first have to
gather them using helicopters,

then herd them
into a boma, or corral,

before shipping
them cross-country.

Working with
flighty prey animals

comes with risks as well as rewards.

To introduce animals is not a
decision that one makes lightly.

There is always a risk that the animals
may get injured or may die.

So it’s not an
easy decision to make.

So we put a lot of
time and effort, planning,

and research into preparing
to make such a decision because

there is no manual to
restoring a park like Gorongosa.

They carefully loaded
them onto trucks to move them

to Gorongosa, hoping
their plan would pay off.

If we want to
bring the numbers up fast,

it increases the
chances of survival,

better genetic, uh, mix.

So, there are a lot of, of
pros by using these techniques.

The
move was a success.

Gorongosa’s zebra now
number around 50 and counting.

Gorongosa has also translocated
other grazers to begin coloring

in the blank spaces on
the canvas of the savannah.

So to get things going,
we did reintroduce 200 buffalo.

We did
reintroduce 200 wildebeest.

And in 2013,

35 eland made a dramatic
entrance into the park.

Thanks to the rich habitat,
there are now over 100.

RUI (off-screen): Every
operation that we are having,

we are getting good results.

It’s not as fast as
a lot of people want,

but this is nature, it
takes its time to recover.

We're just giving
a bit of a boost.

Gorongosa again
has vast herds of antelope.

One grazer is doing so well,
it has scientists mystified,

and intrigued.

Waterbuck went from about
3,500 before the war to only 100

that were left in the
first post-war census.

Now, after almost
15 years of restoration,

waterbuck numbers
are above 50,000,

which means that they're more
than ten times more abundant

than they were before the war.

In fact, there are
now more waterbuck in Gorongosa

than anywhere else in Africa.

But why?

To find out, ecologist
Jen Guyton has a plan.

Right now, we're
out on the floodplain,

we’re following the helicopter,

as it, uh, as the
guys up there dart, uh,

waterbuck from the air.

.

Okay, we're on our way.

So, they've just
darted a waterbuck and, uh,

we're driving over to meet them.

Jen and her team will
not only collar a waterbuck but

fit her with a small camera to
learn more about the species and

why their numbers have
skyrocketed in recent years.

But the waterbuck
has some objections.

I'm working on cutting
this waterbuck's beard, uh.

They've got quite
long hair on their throat and

it can actually obscure
the camera on the collar.

Yeah, I know.

I know.

Popped in the nose there.

Almost.

She's really fighting.

Hey lady, some people pay
for their haircuts, you know?

She looks so fabulous.

With
the haircut complete,

they collar her and
put the camera in place.

It’s time for this
waterbuck to rise and shine.

Oh.

And she's off.

Wow, she is fat.

Look at her.

Yeah, that's amazing.

A nice fat one.

This healthy waterbuck cow
is now a kind of citizen scientist,

helping researchers
understand her species’

overwhelming success in Gorongosa.

One explanation seems obvious.

JEN (off-screen): In a
healthy African ecosystem,

you have a lot of large predators like
lions and leopards and hyenas.

Here in Gorongosa,
without those predators,

some of the prey species,

like waterbuck, are
exploding in number.

But all that’s changing
and it’s part of restoration leader

Greg Carr’s grand plan.

GREG (off-screen): In the first
few years of the restoration,

we didn't worry too
much about carnivores.

We were watching the, uh,
the herbivores grow in number.

But there came a point where we
realized that we needed to turn

our attention to
carnivore reintroductions.

Like every step in
Gorongosa’s pioneering journey,

this is a step into the unknown.

PAOLA (off-screen): Ten years ago,
I landed in Gorongosa to begin

the first research ever
on lions in this landscape.

And our team was expecting to find
a pretty robust lion recovery

to have kicked in already,
but we found quite the opposite.

You know, while
large mammals such as impala,

and waterbuck, and buffalo,

and others had
recovered to some degree,

what we found was that lions were still
at 30% of their carrying capacity.

So that was a surprise.

And we began to dig
deeper as to why lions

were really not kicking in
as much as we had expected.

So, Paola’s team began
putting GPS collars on key lions

so they could follow their movements
and study their family groups.

One of the most
successful is the Sungue pride,

named for the Sungue river
on whose banks they make their home.

The king of the pride
was a lion named Nginga.

PAOLA (off-screen): He's,
he's a bit of an intense lion,

he's pretty mature, he's
completely full of scars.

He's a rough beast of a lion,
and very confident in his place.

Nginga, and lioness
sisters Helena and Flavia,

became the royalty of the
Sungue pride when the park began

to rebound around 2015.

But despite having many cubs,
they lived in constant peril.

Gorongosa’s lions were falling prey
to the only hunter deadlier than they.

PAOLA (off-screen): What we very quickly
picked up on is that snaring

was basically killing our lions.

One in three of our lions were either
being killed or actually maimed,

losing entire limbs in these
wire snares and steel jaw traps

that were being set in the park.

Lions weren’t
actually the intended target.

Poachers set
snares on game trails,

hunting animals they could eat.

Lions followed the same
prey and triggered the traps.

When you
see snares, it's bad,

but when you see the
actual effect that it causes,

animal in total
suffering and pain.

And it's really revolting and
you feel hopeless at that moment

but it also gives you strength
that there's a lot more to do.

As lion
experts looked for solutions,

the elephants
again took center stage.

And not Mwana Nzo’s
family this time.

Too often, a bull elephant’s
GPS collar would signal

park officials that he and
his buddies were heading across

the Pongue river to raid crops
in a village on the outskirts of the park.

With the growing populations
especially of elephants and

also growing number of people around
the areas that elephants use,

it’s more likely
for conflict to occur.

It’s a constant game between people and
elephants trying to coexist.

Yeah, they’re getting
really close to that house now.

Typically, when
elephants invaded croplands in

Gorongosa park’s buffer zone,
farmers and rangers tried to

frighten them off with
fireworks and gunshots.

Right now we’re going
to see if we can’t intervene

to scary away the animals
that are disturbing the crops.

Buffalo and elephants.

It was
dangerous work and the elephants

just kept coming back.

So, elephant expert Dominique Gonçalves
tested a novel deterrent,

pioneered in Kenya.

Beehives.

The way we do is that
we close these entry passages of

elephants that
come from the park,

cross the river,
entering the communities.

We closed these entering
areas with these beehive fences,

which is basically beehives
hanging together and, uh,

linked by a rope and poles.

When the
elephants push the rope...

They disturb the bees,

who make a beeline for
their eyes, trunks and ears,

sensitive areas where their
stingers have the most effect.

It’s worked, and
there’s a side-benefit.

It’s not only about
stopping the elephants getting

to the mashambas or farms,

but it’s also about providing
alternative livelihoods.

That sweet reward that is
the honey really goes back to

the people in the community who
are working for the beehives fences.

Across the park,
there are many winners.

Baboons are everywhere.

Some say they’re as
common as squirrels.

There are monkeys

and the mountain caves
are bursting with bats.

PIOTR (off-screen): During
one of our, uh, expeditions,

we were able to
document 26 species of bats

in a single cave system.

So that’s, that's unheard of.

These are some of
the highest numbers, uh,

on the globe.

There are civet cats,

porcupines,

warthogs,

and pangolins.

Pangolins are solitary,
mainly nocturnal mammals,

covered in sharp
scales made of keratin,

much like fingernails.

They use their long,
sticky tongues to lap up

termites and ants.

Pangolins look and act a lot
like anteaters and armadillos,

but they’re actually more closely related
to bears, cats, and dogs.

They’re also the
world’s most trafficked mammal.

Tens of thousands
are poached every year.

Killed for their
meat and scales,

wrongly believed to
have medicinal qualities.

Gorongosa is home to the first pangolin
rescue unit in Mozambique.

We here in Gorongosa have already
started a new project,

which is to
rehabilitate the pangolins,

and also to count all the
pangolins we come across.

The pangolin rescue is headed by
husband-and-wife veterinarians:

Tonecas and Mercia.

In the few years
since the rescue started,

they’ve rehabilitated and
released about 60 pangolins

like this one, named Boogli.

The Gorongosa National
Park rangers have been working

on recovering pangolins that
got caught by the illegal trade,

and are being sold
on the black market,

So one day they found Boogli,

during this work that they usually do,
and they brought her to us.

Over the time, Boogli was no longer just
a wild animal in our eyes,

we take care of her with
such love, she's like a child,

she's a member of our family.

We give her a bath.
She likes play in the water.

Under
their loving care,

Boogli is getting stronger.

She should soon be
ready for release.

But survival in the wild is never a
certainty for any animal.

Tragically, beautiful
Helena and her mate, Nginga,

lost their lives to snares.

MATEUS (off-screen): The death of Helena
meant a lot to the park.

We not only lost

one of our most
beautiful, uh, lionesses, uh,

one that was giving
a contribution to, uh,

the growth of
the population, but, uh,

we also lost a, an animal
we were all attached to.

The only bright spot is that
their daughter, Tonhinga,

is becoming a powerful
young lioness in her own right.

In fact, uh, Tonhinga,

who is now one of
our adult lionesses

in the Sungwe pride,
is herself having cubs,

and her cubs are having cubs.

So even though we lost Helena and Nginga
the generations have continued on.

One reason
these lions are thriving

is that park conservationists have

hit upon a winning strategy
in the war on illegal poaching.

They’ve combined high-tech,

GPS collars that
alert rangers and

veterinarians as soon
as a lion is in trouble,

with low-tech
boots on the ground,

an army of rangers,

comprised of local men and women,
including reformed poachers,

who undergo seal
team-style training.

PAOLA (off-screen): You know,
these are wildlife rangers,

law enforcement officers from
the communities themselves that

go out into the
wilderness areas,

and actually sweep
through the wilderness,

and collect
snares and traps, and,

and protect these animals.

We had no lions snared
for almost two years.

That was a record.

As for
elephant queen Mwana Nzo,

she still has an attitude.

But there’s something happening
in elephant families here

that offers hope
for their future.

Joyce Poole has
observed the Gorongosa elephants

doing something unusual:

nursing two calves at once.

And she has an idea why.

That, you see,

that’s a sign of how, how
good the, uh, habitat is here.

Yes.

It’s very rare to see
but I’ve seen it here a lot.

Look at that!

That’s so wonderful!

Also, some elephant mothers
here are having babies every two years,

rather than every four,

as in other areas, another
sign of Gorongosa’s rebirth.

DOMINIQUE (off-screen):
It’s nice to see new babies,

new numbers coming, so
this is all big actually

big wins that I, I, I'm happy
to be here seeing all this.

All over the park,
the rivers, floodplains, and

lake Urema support
a wealth of life.

This is one of the largest water bird
nesting colonies in Africa,

where more than
300 species make their home.

And this ancient reptile
is also a survivor:

the Nile crocodile actually
flourished during the war.

The hippos didn’t fare as well.

They were almost wiped out.

Okay.

So in 2009, the
park imported a hippo family,

including a pregnant mom,

whose baby would contribute
to the species’ success.

Now, there are almost 800 hippos
in the park’s waterways,

a great improvement, but a
lake that once supported 3,500

can use a few more.

When it comes to waterbuck,
the park can use a few less.

One answer might be the
re-introduction of predators who

haven’t roamed these grasslands
in force for many years:

wild dogs also
known as painted wolves.

In the past few years,

Gorongosa has flown some in
from areas in South Africa where

they’ve lost the big,
wild spaces they need.

Once they’re gradually
acclimated to each other,

they’re released to the rich
hunting grounds of Gorongosa.

PAOLA (off-screen): We started
with 28 painted wolves that

we translocated into
the park, two different packs.

So currently we have
four different packs,

a few dispersal groups, and
close to 110 painted wolves

roaming in the park.

So they've done really,
really well here.

For
park warden Pedro Muagura,

painted wolves
have special meaning.

They’re his
family’s spirit animal.

In Portuguese,
we call them mabekos,

wild dogs.

My family is Muagura family and

we do respect this mabeko, uh,

because it's believed that
they're protectors because when

lions want to attack
members of my family,

mabekos used to attack lions.

And he said that
until we had reintroduced

the painted wolf into Gorongosa Park he
hadn't seen one in 30 years.

So in his words, the
restoration of Gorongosa

is restoring the
soul of his family.

As it turned out,
they’ve also zeroed in on

a species that’s been
out of balance in the park.

PAOLA (off-screen): You know, we
never expected painted wolves to

prey so heavily on waterbuck.

Waterbuck are not
even their preferred,

one of their
preferred prey species.

Um...

They’re creeping
up on this herd.

So they’re skulking.

The head, front of the heads are
down and they’re creeping in.

So they’re laser-focused
on that herd of waterbuck.

Here they go.

They’re running.
They’re now running.

Here they go.

They’re going
after these waterbuck.

The herd is split and
they’re going after one.

Okay.

They got a waterbuck.

This is probably one of the
first confirmed waterbuck kills

we’ve seen, and it’s
happening right now.

Okay.

This is a way a small predator
like a pack of wild dogs could

kick in pride, uh...

Population control.

Yeah, this is, this is
ecology living and breathing.

Well, sad
for the waterbuck,

of course, and I guess
happy for the painted wolf,

but the point is that this ecosystem did
need to find a rebalance.

We actually have now seen the waterbuck
numbers start to go down and

the numbers of some of these other
gorgeous species going up.

And I just thought, wow,
that was exciting to see.

An even newer
addition is another predator

long missing from Gorongosa.

In recent years, a lone
male leopard has been spotted

only on camera traps,
in and around the park.

Today could be the start
of a much happier life for

the lonely leopard and for a
leopardess who’d lost her home.

PAOLA (off-screen): Aircraft just took off
from Beira carrying

our first female leopard
to be reintroduced into

Gorongosa National Park.

Uh, we waited
three years for this moment and

overcome many, many hurdles.

So, this is a very
exciting day for us in the park.

She is from an area where
leopards are sometimes unwanted.

Sometimes they’re perceived
as a risk and a threat,

so she didn’t
have a home anymore, and,

but now she has the
wilderness of Gorongosa to,

to live in and thrive in.

Before the now-named
Sena can enjoy her new home,

she has to come out
of her travel crate.

Oh my God.

Wow!
How's that?

PAOLA (off-screen):
We’re very joyful right now.

We just saw one of the most beautiful
animals on this planet, uh,

freed into
Gorongosa National Park.

We've worked three years
to get to this stage so

we hope she’s the first of many.

And, um, she's...

Welcome to paradise!

The hope is that
Sena and the male will find

each other, and
the sparks will fly.

As for the park’s
elephant families,

Joyce and Dominique are
still trying to bring them into

a state of peaceful coexistence.

Wow,
that was powerful.

That’s
called a trumpet blast.

Okay. It’s meant
to frighten you.

Yeah. It did!

It kinda worked.
Yeah!

And then,
Mwana Nzo herself appears.

Oh, for goodness sakes.

What
is she up to today?

Joyce Poole and
Dominique Gonçalves struggle to

read Mwana Nzo’s body language.

Okay, so she’s rumbling.

Will she charge?

It seems Mwana Nzo has
something else on her mind.

She’s more interested
in the two male admirers

who’ve turned up,
than in chasing cars.

She has to make the right
choice to be sure she mates with

the highest-ranking male.

For Gorongosa’s elephants,

shifting the culture of aggression
depends on their mothers.

It’s really going to depend
of how certain females or matriarchs,

or family members
behave now towards us.

And then that is what is
going to be passed through to

the younger generation
and other elephants.

Oh, look at what
he’s doing with his trunk.

Okay.

Well, I think
they’re starting to learn,

I think they're starting to learn that
there’s a new era in Gorongosa.

An era in which they are safe.

That people don’t
mean them any harm.

And if they can’t forget,
maybe they can forgive.

Ready to go, my Boogli.

For Mercia, Tonecas,

and Boogli,
today is bittersweet.

Now when we release her,

it will be a bit sad.

I hope
they will multiply a lot,

and that anyone who
comes here in Gorongosa

can have access during
safaris and can see a pangolin.

The new cat on
the block has already shown

the park’s impala she’s boss.

She’s looking fat and happy with
a belly full of antelope meat.

There’s still been no sighting
of her with the park’s male,

but there are promising signs.

PAOLA (off-screen): If
Sena meets up with the male,

and it looks like she is
overlapping with his home range

at the moment, they are very
likely to have cubs together.

And then that would kickstart
the recovery of leopards here.

And these would be probably
the first cubs born on the park

in many decades.

The new pack of painted wolves
has acquired a fan club.

They’ve charmed these children,

who live on the
outskirts of the park.

These young ecologists
are part of a larger effort

to help local
communities enjoy Gorongosa.

First, I would like to say
this is the best eco club that we’ve had.

GREG (off-screen):
The philosophy we operate on here

is this is not a competition

between the people
and the animals for the land.

It’s just the opposite.

And this intact wilderness is
what provides the opportunity

for the people to have a
sustainable lifestyle and

to have employment and in
turn the people love the park.

Conservation, if we
do not fulfill people's needs,

conservation will
not have success.

There’s no question
Gorongosa’s grand experiment is

succeeding on a grand scale.

The latest aerial census reveals
an increase in large animals

from 10,000 in 2008 to
more than 100,000 today.

I’m most excited about and, and
actually most surprised about,

was how quickly the wildlife bounced
back from almost nothing.

In fact, Gorongosa
has so many of some species that

they can give them
away to other parks.

The Gorongosa project has become

such an international
conservation model,

that it’s been
extended from a 20-year plan

to a 35-year plan.

And the park
itself is expanding.

With more wild areas, it may soon
compare in size to the Serengeti.

It is a real privilege
to be working with such vision.

You know?

In, in a day and age where we see so much
destruction across the planet,

I think Gorongosa
turns that around and

shows the potential for
recovery and restoration with

a very clear vision of bringing
people and ecosystems together.

Oh, what’s that?

This is,
this is lion paradise.

This is elephant paradise.

And ten years from now,
100 years from now,

1,000 years from now, I
just want this to be like this.

I want this to be the
paradise and I think it can be.

Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.