Gorongoza
This trip wasn’t all work; the adventure included a trip to Gorongoza National Park — a game park in Mozambique. I’d never been to a park before in Africa and was really looking forward to the opportunity to see something wild. Alas, the park is just being renovated from years of poaching during the civil war and we weren’t able to see any of the elephant, zebra or lion. We did, however, see a vast variety of other animals that had me swooning. Baboons, civet cat, storks…
Antelope galore!
Water buck — which have a perfect white circle around their hineys. Rumor has it they were the first animals on Noah’s arc to use the toilet and the paint wasn’t yet dry.
Warthog, with their tails standing straight up like antennae when they run.
The rondavel where we stayed. I felt like I was in a movie, the setting was so perfect!
Ken and Debbie, my friends who live on a ranch near the park.
How we got around the park. Technically, we aren’t supposed to be out of the vehicle because of the lions.
Elephant skull, with teeth the size of walnuts.
More colors in a sunset than seem possible.
Greg Carr, an American philanthropist, is spending $40 million to rejuvenate the park. His work is incredible. Essentially, he found a perfect opportunity to use his money to improve the earth and help people. His investment is returning animals to their habitat and growing a tourism economy in one of the poorest areas of the world. He’s got a team of American and international scientists and workers in the park working on all kinds of programs, including many to help villages surrounding the park. It made me proud such a generous American was doing such great work in Mozambique.
Maybe I’ll work for him one day.
~K
- Posted in Africa, Journal, Photography, Travel
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that skull! your pictures belong in magazines.
June 11th, 2007 at 9:17 amis mr. carr single???
June 11th, 2007 at 10:03 amHello Kelli,
June 11th, 2007 at 10:17 amWelcome home! I’ve enjoyed reading your most recent travel posts and looking at all of the pictures over and over again. How heartwarming that someone is investing in the park. I love visiting this corner of the world through your eyes and words. Thank you!
Those are fabulous pictures!
June 11th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Man that looks incredible! I’m sure glad you didn’t get eaten by a lion though when you got out of the truck!! 
June 11th, 2007 at 11:59 amonly a blogger would brave the lions for a shot!
am really enjoying the photo summary of your amazing trip.
June 11th, 2007 at 12:05 pmThanks for the photos and bits of your life in Africa. I agree with Grace…your photos belong in a magazine. You are a great photographer!
June 11th, 2007 at 12:50 pmthanks for continuing to capture nuances of the continent. beautiful.
June 11th, 2007 at 4:12 pmWOW.
June 11th, 2007 at 4:17 pmDid you get a pic of the civet cat? One of my favorite African folk tales features a civet cat. The story is called Traveling to Tondo and it is a lot of fun to read. Thank goodness there are many philanthropists paving the way now. With millionaires on the rise they are hopefully setting an example. But you on the other hand are setting the example for the rest of us regular folk!
June 11th, 2007 at 4:28 pmBeautiful!
June 11th, 2007 at 4:57 pmBeautiful inspiring photos and thank goodness there are people like Mr. Carr. And hey, those warthogs are handsome little guys, aren’t they?
June 11th, 2007 at 6:14 pmSuch lovely animals. I love the joke about the toilet seat too! And what a wonderful thing Mr. Carr is doing. Thanks for the heads up about him, I am looking at his site wondering what I can do to help. It’s good to know that people like him are out there using their wealth for the greater good.
June 11th, 2007 at 8:04 pmWow Kelli! Those are some truly amazing pictures!
June 11th, 2007 at 8:30 pmI like the Noah’s Ark rumour! Some parts of BC could have used the Ark this week.
Your photos look like them came straight out of National Geographic.
Glad you had some holiday time as well. I would love to visit Africa one day. I realise the continent is huge, but I’d love to visit various parts.
June 11th, 2007 at 10:03 pmI love when you come back from trips because I get to enjoy them vicariously through your gorgeous photos. I’m glad you were able to find some time for R&R among all the hard work you were doing.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:46 pmThe elephant skull is creepily human-looking…
June 12th, 2007 at 4:21 amthe animals are so beautiful kelli.
June 12th, 2007 at 5:17 amYou really captured your trip- the word and pictures are inspiring, informational and beautiful. And I really appreciate you sharing.Glad you’re back.
June 12th, 2007 at 5:28 amI wonder what the going rate for elephant root-canals is..?! Your pictures are beautiful, Kelli! They make me want to travel
June 12th, 2007 at 5:36 pmIt’s so fantastic that someone is trying to rejuvenate something in Africa! Well done Greg Carr! And thanks for sharing Kelli
June 13th, 2007 at 4:45 amSuch enjoyable pictures.
On the one hand, it would suck to get eaten by a lion.
On the other hand, it would be a pretty cool way to go.
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:13 pmIf I’m not mistaken, weren’t elephant skulls one source of the “Cyclops” myths?
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:14 pm[...] Have you ever wanted to go on a photo safari in Africa? Me too. Last summer I was lucky enough to visit Gorongoza National Park in Mozambique. However their civil war decimated the animal population and we saw little other than water buck and warthog. (They are beautiful in their own right but not necessarily safari-worthy on their own merit.) Liwonde National Park in Malawi, on the other hand, has a ton of animals. So many elephant, in fact, they were capturing some of the herd and taking them to another park while we were there. The staff and grounds are pretty fantastic too. The safari went something like this: [...]
July 9th, 2008 at 10:00 am