With its emerald green floodplains, hippos wallowing in glassy water, eagles swooping over elephant herds, lions slouched on tree trunks and impala grazing to the shimmering horizon, Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park is an earthly paradise where you feel you’ve been gifted a glimpse of the planet as it existed before humanity.
But during 16 years of civil war in Mozambique, humans left their mark on the park with disastrous consequences. By the end of the war in 1992, Gorongosa was void of life - nearly all of the animals had been destroyed by soldiers and poachers. Only small, fearful groups remained, their home a menace of traps and snares.
