Parque Nacional da Gorongosa Moçambique

Gorongosa National Park Featured on South African Television Programs Carte Blanche and 50/50

Aug 19, 2007 - Gorongosa National Park

Gorongosa National Park was recently featured on the well known South African television program, Carte Blanche, and South Africa’s environmental program 50/50 will air a feature segment on the Park in November.

Carte Blanche is an investigative news magazine, similar to the US’s 20/20 program, that airs weekly on M-Net in South Africa.  The program has become an institution among South African television audiences in the last 17 years since the program's inception in 1989. The show consistently ranks in the top 10 on M-Net and enjoys a local viewership of about 500,000 people every week.  The story on Gorongosa National Park also aired on the continental edition, Carte Blanche Africa, which is broadcast to 44 countries throughout southern Africa. 

The Carte Blanche production team, including anchorman Derek Watts, stayed at GNP’s Chitengo Camp for more than a week interviewing staff about the ambitious restoration underway at the Park and filming the Park’s many beautiful sights.  The Gorongosa story aired on Carte Blanche on August 19, 2007.  Click below to view the twelve-minute video.

Carte Blanche

50/50 is a television program that has, for twenty years, presented the successes and disasters of conservation to South Africa's people.   Programs on 50/50 have influenced environmental policy, stirred the public against environmental injustices, promoted the work of dedicated conservationists, and helped to create a stronger awareness of conservation and environmental issues in South Africa.  50/50 airs on SABC in South Africa.

One of the producers of the 50/50 story about GNP, Don Guy, spent time in the Park as a child when his father was good friends with Ken Tinley who was the Park’s ecologist at the time.  “Going back to Gorongosa was an historic occasion for me,” said Guy of his return to Gorongosa.  The 20-minute Gorongosa story will air on 50/50 on Monday, November 12, 2007 at 7:30 PM on SABC TV in South Africa.

We will post a video of the 50/50 broadcast on our website as soon as it becomes available.