Macane Jornal, Bento Talaca, Salazar Focumbe, João Bazi, José Lino Da Paz, Zembe Braunde, Dreque Blaque, Carlitos Eliasse, and Sebastão Tomé, the hard-working team that keeps our Wildlife Sanctuary – the backbone of Gorongosa National Park’s animal reintroduction program – running. These ten men work under the skilled direction of Sanctuary Manager Carlos Tavares in the Park’s Conservation Services Department.
The men come from nearby communities, including Gorongosa Town, Bela Vista and Vinho, to work at the Park. For most of these men, this job is their first. Prior to coming to work for the Park, they worked their family farms, growing cotton to sell as well as vegetables and maize to feed their families. Now they are able to take the income they earn in their jobs at the Park in order to improve and grow these farms, improving the promise of a better future for their families.
Sebastão Tomé, Sanctuary Team leader
Macane Jornal, Salazar, Focumbe, and Bento Talaca, three members of the ten-man Wildlife Sanctuary Team.
The team clears roads, builds firebreaks, fights wildfires, and maintains the “boma” (the release pen for re-introduced animals). The team has been a key part in building facilities to house and support Sanctuary staff, including the Park’s veterinary laboratory. They also patrol the Sanctuary’s electrified boundary fence daily to inspect for damage, a function that also serves as a significant deterrent for illegal hunters who seek game inside the Sanctuary.
As they talk about their experience working for the Park, these men all express pride in their work and satisfaction about their contributions to the Park’s restoration. In particular, they stress their interest in adding to and improving their skills (most have at best a primary school education) and in learning more about conservation, about which they just used to hear stories. Now, they are participating in these stories, learning how to understand the wildlife living within the Sanctuary – when they are well, when they are ill, what they need – and are a key part in making sure the animal reintroductions go smoothly.
Sebastão Tomé and Carlos Tavares inspect damage to the Sanctuary’s electrified fence during the daily rounds.
Two members of the Sanctuary team finalize work on the tank that will provide water to the Sanctuary staff facilities.
The men are also helping spread the message of conservation in their communities, explaining to their families and friends in their home towns about what they do and why it is important, and about why it is important to not harm nature.
“It is interesting for humanity,” says Sebastão Tomé, the team’s leader. We like it a lot.”