Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

3 January 2008
Posted to the web 3 January 2008

Maputo

The Mozambican government intends to transform the Gorongosa National Park, in the central province of Sofala, into a southern African reference point, and a strong competitor to the other parks of the region.

To this end the Mozambican Tourism Ministry has been working since 2005 with the Carr Foundation (set up by the American multi-millionaire Gregory Carr) on a joint plan to rehabilitate the Gorongosa Park.

The park was seriously damaged during the war of destabilisation. The apartheid-backed Renamo rebels destroyed the tourist facilities, every elephant in the park was shot, or fled, and other wild life was decimated.

The park was closed in 1982, and even after the end of the war, in 1992, it was a haven for poachers. The government only re-established its authority over the park and moved to stamp out poaching in 1995.

The current plan envisages restocking the park with animals, building three tourist camps (two of them of luxury standard), and training wardens and other staff. For these activities, the Carr Foundation has promised to disburse over 30 million US dollars in the next ten years, Tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana told AIM. Sumbana’s ministry will contribute with 158,000 dollars a year.

Sumbana said that since 2005, the Carr Foundation has provided six million dollars, which were used “to establish the pillars for the development of the park”, such as the development of key infrastructures.

This money is a grant. It will be spent on infrastructure investment, restocking, training and community development. “There’s no return of this money”, said Sumbana.

The Minister said the government has identified a partner to manage the park and check any further degradation. He stressed that Gorongosa has “very special” characteristics, with no less than 54 eco-systems, including flood plains, Lake Urema, the Pungue river, miombo woodland, the Cheringoma plateau, and the Gorongosa mountain range itself.

Sumbana believed that the partnership with the Carr Foundation will allow the country to obtain tourist income, and will create urgently needed technical capacity to improve the park. “We are establishing a park that will be a reference point throughout southern Africa”, he said. “Within a few years, we want the Gorongosa Park to be a strong competitor of the major parks of the region”.

The government’s perspective is that as from year five of the rehabilitation, Gorongosa will be receiving 500,000 tourists a year, and bringing in annual revenue of 75 million dollars (based on an estimate of each tourist staying for an average of three days, and spending 50 dollars a day).

In December, the government gave the go-ahead for signing an agreement on the joint management of the park, which will be valid for 20 years, with an annual assessment. During this period, it is hoped that the park will become self-sustaining.

BuaNews (Tshwane)

10 October 2007
Posted to the web 10 October 2007

Sharon Hammond
Nelspruit

Visitors to the Kruger Park have been urged to report any African Wild Dogs they come across to help the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) to improve the management of these animals.

Between now and the end of November, one of the only viable wild dog populations left in the country can be spotted in the southern parts of the Kruger National Park.

Researchers at EWT are trying to determine how wild dogs are genetically related to each other so as to improve the management of their population.

“Visitors can support this research by reporting all wild dog sightings to the EWT’s Wild Dog Hotline number. Sightings can be phoned in, SMS-ed to 076 725 5242.

“This will enable researchers to locate dog packs and obtain the required number of genetic samples to complete the analysis,” said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the EWT, Yolan Friedmann.

The wild dog is South Africa’s most endangered carnivore. There are fewer than 500 free-ranging wild dogs in the country, most of whom live in the Kruger Park and a handful are found at smaller provincial and private reserves.

“Kruger National Park contains the only viable and self-sustaining wild dog population in South Africa. They are therefore an important benchmark with which to compare other less viable and more intensively managed populations,” explained Ms Friedmann.

She said however, the wild dogs at Kruger Park were notoriously difficult to locate.

“For this reason, visitors to the park are being asked to assist researchers by alerting them immediately to any wild dog packs seen in the southern section of the park.

“This will greatly improve the likelihood of obtaining the required number of genetic samples to complete the analysis,” she said.

If there is a sighting, as much detail as possible needs to be given on the location, time and size of the group to help project researchers find the packs.

Patterns of relatedness among the southern Kruger wild dog population will be compared to those of smaller populations in reserves like the Pilanesberg National Park, Madikwe Game Reserve, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park and the De Beers Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve.

These reserves form part of South Africa’s national wild dog metapopulation, a collection of small isolated populations collectively managed by the Wild Dog Advisory Group which currently contain nearly half of our country’s free-ranging wild dogs.

The research project is being sponsored by Masslift and Colchester Zoo’s Action for The Wild.