Parque Nacional da Gorongosa Moçambique

 
1920-1940
The dramatic landscape and abundant wildlife of the Gorongosa region have long attracted hunters, explorers, and naturalists. The first official act to protect some of its splendor came in 1920, when the Mozambique Company ordered 1,000 square kilometers set aside as a hunting reserve for company administrators and their guests. Chartered by the government of Portugal, the Mozambique Company controlled all of central Mozambique between 1891 and 1940.

We know very little about the reserve's early years, only that at some point a local man named Jose Ferreira began living in a thatched hut in Chitengo camp and guarding wildlife. In 1935 Mr. Jose Henriques Coimbra was named warden and Mr. Ferreira became the reserve's first guide. That same year the Mozambique Company enlarged the reserve to 3,200 square kilometers to protect habitat for Nyala (an antelope) and black rhino, both highly prized hunting trophies.

A letter written by a Mozambique Company official in 1935 indicates that in its early years the reserve was managed for hunters not as a wildlife sanctuary. "A visit to Beira will soon be made by the British Cruiseliner CARLISLE, which will consist of a hunting trip for the respective officers in the open plains of Gorongosa,"  a Company official wrote to a local administrator.

"It is hereby recommended to the Administrator that he take adequate measures to ensure that these illustrious guests will not find the animals too dispersed or excited, which would make it difficult for them to have a successful hunt."

By 1940 the reserve had become so popular that a new headquarters and tourist camp was built on the floodplain near the Mussicadzi River.  Unfortunately, it had to be abandoned two years later due to heavy flooding in the rainy season. Lions then occupied the abandoned building and it became a popular tourist attraction for many years, known as Casa dos Leões (Lion House).


1941-1959
After the Mozambique Company's charter ended, management of the reserve was transferred to the colonial government. Mr. Alfredo Rodriques was appointed Warden, replacing Mr. Coimbra. Over the next 14 years Mr. Rodrigues initiated the first steps towards banning hunting and establishing a viable tourism business.

In 1951 construction began on a new headquarters and other facilities at Chitengo camp, including a restaurant and bar. That same year, the government added a 12,000-square-kilometer protection zone around the reserve to mitigate the impacts of the road from Beira to Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe), which went through Chitengo. By the end of the 1950s more than 6,000 tourists were visiting annually and the colonial government had awarded the first tourism concession in the Park.

In 1955 the Veterinary Services division of the colonial government assumed control of all wildlife management in Mozambique, including Gorongosa National Park.  Gorongosa was named a National Park by the government of Portugal in 1960.

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