Nat Geo_Africas Lost Eden Gorongosa
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00:00It was known as the place where Noah left his ark, an African paradise teeming with
00:10amazing creatures.
00:22But then came war, with a park called Gorongosa caught in the crossfire.
00:35Only ghostly remnants of its wildlife survived.
00:42But now rangers and conservationists are fighting to bring back the magnificent titans of Gorongosa.
00:50Only they can restore Africa's lost Eden.
01:21At the southern end of Africa's great rift valley lies Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique.
01:28It's April, the end of the wet season, and rivers run deep and wide.
01:51All waters flow to Lake Ulema, the beating heart of the center of Gorongosa, and a mecca for living things.
02:03Once, it seemed that Africa had outdone itself at Gorongosa with its riots of wildlife.
02:32Today, the place seems gaudy with life.
02:39But all is not well here.
02:44Where are Africa's great wildlife icons?
02:48Lions and buffalo, cheetahs and zebras, elephants and hippos?
02:52For the most part, they're gone, or barely holding on, the victims of human folly.
03:12From 1997 to 1992, a brutal civil war engulfed Mozambique.
03:19An estimated one million people lost their lives.
03:22Battles raged in Gorongosa Park.
03:25Hungry soldiers and poachers killed 95% of some animal species for meat.
03:35The toll when the guns fell silent was shocking.
03:41Of 14,000 buffalo that had blackened Gorongosa's plains, just 15 were left.
03:54Of 3,000 zebras, wardens could find only five.
04:01Of 5,500 wildebeest, a handful.
04:05And with the great prey went most of the great predators.
04:09Cheetahs and leopards had mostly disappeared.
04:12Of 500 lions, six remained.
04:20I have a memory of when I was, I think, around 12.
04:26I came and I couldn't believe what I was looking at,
04:30especially the animals that impressed me a lot were elephants.
04:34And the lions, of course, that they were just standing around everywhere.
04:39We had many animals, great biodiversity.
04:44Four decades after that fateful visit,
04:46Carlos Lopez Pereira is part of a heroic effort to bring the park back to its former glory.
04:52The plan, to reinvigorate the genetic pools and populations of all Gorongosa's major species.
05:03They're not hoping to save just a few animals here.
05:06They're embarking on perhaps the most ambitious park restoration effort ever attempted.
05:17Of all the animals in Gorongosa's Book of the Dead, the names of two are writ large.
05:22Elephants and hippos, the gardeners of this Eden.
05:31It will begin with bringing in new elephants.
05:35With their voracious appetites, they kept vegetation in check.
05:40Without them, the park has become a tinderbox in the dry season.
05:50If hope is to return to Gorongosa, it will be on the backs of these giants.
05:59But it will not be easy.
06:01There is no way to tell if the severely traumatized resident elephants
06:05that survived the massacre will breed with the newcomers.
06:16The females, the matriarchs that are still alive,
06:22they witness this massacre that the elephants suffered in this park.
06:30We can see that in everyday contact with these elephants.
06:34They avoid the contact with humans as much as they can.
06:38Of Gorongosa's 2,200 elephants, only 300 are here today.
06:53They bear not only psychological scars but also genetic ones.
06:58Almost all of them have stubs of tusks or none at all
07:02as poachers have killed the ones with tusks for their ivory.
07:14Pereira and his team set off for South Africa.
07:18Gorongosa's new elephants will have to come from 1,300 kilometers away.
07:26Then the healing of Gorongosa will begin in earnest.
07:40There is one creature at the heart of the park
07:42that managed to escape the horrors of the civil war
07:45and is actually doing its part to keep the ecosystem from collapsing.
07:50Nile crocodiles by the hundreds plunge into the safe haven of Lake Urema
07:56at the first sight of humans.
08:03There they can stay underwater for hours,
08:06a talent that no doubt helped them evade the guns of hungry soldiers.
08:10And here they can satiate their hunger by hunting their main prey, catfish.
08:41The crocodiles, by eating the voracious catfish, are actually a blessing for the park.
08:47In other places where the crocodiles have been killed off,
08:50catfish have multiplied out of control and destroyed entire ecosystems.
08:57Other fish populations crash, the birds that feed on them follow,
09:02the birds' droppings that fertilize the water disappear,
09:05Gorongosa's crocodiles keep this environmental death spiral from occurring.
09:14The other great keepers of the lake, hippos,
09:16are still too few to help restore the park to its former greatness.
09:20They, too, will have to be imported from South Africa.
09:24But for now, the Gorongosa team has elephants on its mind.
09:28They've arrived at South Africa's Kruger National Park.
09:32Unlike Gorongosa, which has too few elephants, Kruger has too many.
09:37The Kruger National Park is the largest national park in South Africa,
09:41and the largest in the world.
09:44The Kruger National Park is the largest national park in South Africa,
09:48and the largest in the world.
09:50Unlike Gorongosa, which has too few elephants, Kruger has too many.
09:55The population has risen from 8,000 to 13,000 in just 13 years.
10:05The chase begins. The target, male elephants.
10:13Bulls are loners, except when mating.
10:16If tied to their families, they wouldn't survive among strangers.
10:35The ground team waits for the immobilizing drug to take effect.
10:40He's a big bull, in his prime, and he's taking a long time to fall.
10:4512 minutes and counting.
10:54After 20 minutes, the ground team rushes in.
10:58The elephant has fallen to his knees.
11:00In this position, with all his weight on his lungs, he could suffocate.
11:11On his side, the elephant is safe.
11:13But the capture team must still work quickly.
11:16The longer he is immobilized,
11:18the longer he will have to wait for the drug to take effect.
11:21On his side, the elephant is safe.
11:23But the capture team must still work quickly.
11:26The longer he is immobilized, the greater the risk of fatal complications.
11:34A drugged elephant's trunk becomes flaccid.
11:37To prevent suffocation, they make sure to keep it open.
11:42He's huge, over three meters at the shoulder.
11:46Each tusk is well over a meter long.
11:51He's about 40 years old and probably weighs about 6,500 kilograms.
11:59Elephants regularly live to be 60 years old.
12:05The capture team bolts on a satellite tracking collar.
12:08This will allow them to keep a virtual eye on the elephant in Gorongosa.
12:16The collar's code is G5.
12:19This becomes the elephant's new name.
12:23G5 receives the antidote to the immobilizing drug.
12:28They need to get him back on his feet,
12:30but they need to be able to do much more.
12:32It's the roughest call of the day.
12:34The elephant is still in the cage.
12:36With the help of the capture team,
12:38the elephant is putting on a new face.
12:43He's growing, he's moving.
12:45He's getting a bit more active.
12:48He's growing, he's moving.
12:50He's getting a bit more active.
12:52He's growing, he's moving.
12:54They need to get him back on his feet for the long trip to Gorongosa.
12:59Otherwise, he could be injured under his own weight.
13:02Put in your legs, put in your legs, come on, put in your legs, come on, now, now, now.
13:29Good boy, good boy.
13:36Bye.
13:40Carlos must give G5 a tranquilliser to minimise the stress of travel and to prevent any elephant rage on the journey.
13:49In all, the Gorongosa team captures six bull elephants in Kruger.
13:59It's been a long day. They're exhausted and anxious about what the future holds.
14:06Ahead lies one of the longest overland journeys ever undertaken to relocate elephants.
14:17They and their precious cargo will have to journey 1,300 kilometres from South Africa across the border into Mozambique and up to Gorongosa National Park.
14:30As the caravan sets off into the African night, Gorongosa's grand plan seems impossibly audacious for now.
14:47While Gorongosa awaits its new elephants, the dry season sets in.
15:05The rivers evaporate in the blistering heat.
15:12For the crocodiles, the great survivors, this may mean some additions to the menu.
15:22In the absence of large numbers of lions and other big predators, baboons and warthogs have overrun the park.
15:34With water at a premium, they're drawn to the shrinking shores now thick with crocodiles hidden beneath the water cabbage.
16:00As warthog hunters, crocodiles are no substitute for the big cats.
16:10They still do their part by keeping the catfish population down.
16:25Catching a catfish is one thing.
16:29Keeping it is another.
16:41When not hunting, crocodiles of all sizes haul out to bask.
16:47There's a pecking order here and a monstrous specimen ponderously takes a prime spot.
17:03They show off their impressive teeth, but generally tolerate each other.
17:16On shrinking rivers off the lake, tempers flare.
17:25It's time for the females to lay their eggs and competition for prime nesting sites intensifies.
17:41Once they lay, the females will stand guard for over two months and wait for the hatchlings to emerge.
17:48The next generation of unlikely keepers of the lake.
17:57For Gorongosa's keepers, excitement mounts.
18:00The delivery they've been waiting for has finally arrived.
18:0530 hours after setting off, the trucks bearing the Kruger elephants pull into the park.
18:18Come to my side.
18:22Congratulations, you made it.
18:24Thanks.
18:25Have you had any sleep?
18:27Only one hour and how long, two days?
18:30European entrepreneur Greg Carr welcomes the team.
18:33It's good to see you.
18:35Congratulations, we made it.
18:37And how long has the drive been?
18:39Through his foundation, Carr has committed to help fund and manage the restoration of Gorongosa for 20 years.
18:48Where others saw a hopeless situation in Gorongosa, Carr saw an opportunity.
18:53He grew up near Yellowstone National Park in the United States, an Eden once as devastated as this one.
19:01What most people don't realize is that when Yellowstone was made a national park in the late 19th century,
19:07that at that time the animals were depleted.
19:10They had been hunted out.
19:12And Yellowstone was not the magnificent place it is now with abundant wildlife.
19:19The lessons learned from Yellowstone helped form the model here.
19:23Build up the herbivore base through reintroduction and vigorous protection from poaching.
19:28Then bring back predators.
19:42A groggy G5 steps out into a new world.
19:49A new world.
19:57Hello boy.
20:03To the car, to the car.
20:05Car.
20:08Look at this.
20:09You see what I'm saying?
20:13No problem, no problem.
20:16They don't want to listen.
20:20It's good, it's good.
20:23It's good.
20:27Time is going.
20:29G5 must learn to navigate a completely different landscape.
20:34He begins to explore and taste his new home.
20:41G5 and the other bulls are the special forces of conservation here.
20:46First on the ground, they can clear out enormous swathes of trees and bush.
20:51Relandscaping Gorongosa's vast savannas.
20:54Setting the stage for thousands of other animals to flourish.
21:17As the new elephants begin to explore Gorongosa,
21:20the hopes and fears of the conservation team go with them.
21:29One of their gravest concerns is that the elephants will leave the park,
21:34which is not fenced like the park they've come from.
21:38To the south, only a shallow river separates the elephants from the farms and villages.
21:50As Carlos and his team patrol the river for stray elephants,
21:54they also keep an eye out for rogue crocodiles.
21:57Every year, a handful of people disappear from Gorongosa.
22:02For now, humans have nothing to fear from these crocodiles.
22:08Vigilant mothers stand guard.
22:15The elephants are not afraid of humans.
22:18They are not afraid of crocodiles.
22:21They are not afraid of humans.
22:24They are not afraid of crocodiles.
22:27They guard.
22:31Gorongosa's sandy riverbanks provide perfect nesting spots.
22:35This crocodile has probably used this site all her life.
22:41From the cool of the river, she watches for nest raiders.
22:51A Nile monitor lizard hunts.
22:55Its darting tongue tastes the air,
22:58seeking the scent of the crocodile eggs buried beneath the sand.
23:07The lizard gets too close for comfort, and the crocodile switches to battle stations.
23:19He sniffs out her nest and starts digging.
23:25He digs.
23:43Undaunted, the lizard searches for another nest.
23:50Soon it finds one, unguarded.
23:55It's a dead end.
24:01More than half of all crocodile eggs are lost,
24:04many down the throats of these crufty predators.
24:16Too late, the mother arrives and finds her hopes dashed.
24:25Gorongosa
24:38The dry season tightens its grip on Gorongosa.
24:45The rivers drop to just a few inches.
24:50Small fish rocket from the water, pursued by ravenous catfish.
24:56Their acrobatic escape acts buy them a little time.
25:04But they're busy.
25:08They've got no time to rest.
25:12They've got no time to rest.
25:16They've got no time to rest.
25:21They've got no time to rest.
25:25The bell tolls when the skies darken above them.
25:45Thousands of storks, cranes and pelicans arrive for their annual feast.
25:56They've got no time to rest.
26:10Each uses a different technique for the job.
26:15Some stab and impale.
26:19Some trawl.
26:25Some hunt in packs.
26:33Despite the easy pickings, they squabble endlessly.
26:49Of all the fishing techniques on display,
26:51none is more impressive than the aerial ambush of the African fish eagle.
27:02Two rivals tangle talons mid-air.
27:09The victor wins fishing rights to a banquet.
27:18The African fish eagle is the winner.
27:44Within days, the shrinking river will be fished clean
27:47and the birds will move on.
28:04Those who can't flee resort to digging in.
28:17Crocodiles entomb themselves in mud
28:20and go into a kind of suspended animation
28:23in a last-ditch effort to survive the drought.
28:28Catfish dig in too.
28:33And on the horizon looms the worst sign of all.
28:38Smoke.
28:41Wildfire.
28:46Every year, bushfires take a heavy toll on Gorongosa's wildlife.
28:51But this year, they will bring more heartbreak than usual.
29:00Without its big grazers to eat the grass, the park is like a tinderbox.
29:05Wildfires rage out of control.
29:11Ranger Justino Devane and his team are on 24-hour alert.
29:16Against such a tenacious enemy, they face a seemingly impossible task.
29:36The team defeats this bushfire,
29:38but they know it's only a matter of hours before they're called into action again.
29:51Frightened by the fires, an elephant flees the park.
29:55It's G5, the huge 40-year-old bull recently trucked in from South Africa.
30:02When the fires got really serious,
30:07then in one day he moved 20 kilometers south.
30:11It's clear that he was running from the fires.
30:17G5's life is now in danger,
30:20as is the safety of the villagers in his path.
30:23Here, as in most parts across Africa,
30:26the collision of people and elephants can bring tragic results.
30:32The Gorongosa team needs to find G5 as soon as possible and somehow get him back.
30:41Elephants can cover more than 80 kilometers a day.
30:46Every hour brings G5 further away from the safety of Gorongosa
30:50and closer to a potentially violent end.
30:57The team finally locates G5.
31:02Local officials say they'll shoot the elephant unless he's removed.
31:12G5's survival depends on bringing him back to the park.
31:19The Gorongosa team has no choice.
31:24They immobilize G5, despite the risks.
31:27After ten days on the run, he's probably exhausted and stressed to breaking point.
31:36The drugs could kill him.
31:46They try to keep him cool.
31:48Immobilization can hinder an elephant's ability to regulate its body temperature.
31:58The journey home starts out well.
32:06But after two hours on the road, there's a problem.
32:09G5's breathing becomes labored.
32:12It may be heatstroke.
32:14It may be that the elephant is just too weak or stressed to tolerate the drugs.
32:18Whatever the reason, G5 has no choice.
32:21Whatever the reason, it's clear he's slipping away.
32:27It was a risk they had to take.
32:30But now, one of their hard-won immigrants is dead.
32:42The rescue operation becomes a funeral procession.
32:47Back at the park, rangers remove G5's tusks
32:51to deter ivory poachers from trying to find his grave.
33:06He receives a letter from the police.
33:09It's a letter from G5.
33:13He receives a final salute.
33:22Despite the tragedy,
33:24Carlos Lopez Pereira still believes that humans and elephants
33:28can live together around Gorongosa.
33:35For Carlos and his team, there's no time for grief.
33:39Already, plans are underway to bring Gorongosa's next vital immigrants.
33:44Hippos.
33:55And desperately needed relief from the drought is on the horizon.
34:10One stifling afternoon in late December, the skies begin to brood.
34:29Finally, the rains arrive.
34:35The crocodiles emerge from their shallow graves.
35:09They will last for four months.
35:17Refreshed by the rains, Gorongosa feels like a living Eden again.
35:26At the nesting beach, the rains trigger the arrival
35:29of a new generation of Gorongosa's top predator.
35:35From inside their eggs beneath the sandy riverbank,
35:38the croc hatchlings call out to their mother.
35:41She's guarded them round the clock for over two months.
35:44Now it's time to dig them up.
35:57About 40 eggs make up her clutch.
36:09Using a tiny egg tooth at the tip of its snout,
36:13each hatchling breaks through.
36:28Some need a little help.
36:32She gently rolls unbroken eggs between her tongue
36:35and the roof of her mouth to crack them and release the hatchlings.
36:44A special pouch in the bottom of her mouth allows her to hold half a dozen.
37:06She brings each new batch to the water.
37:24With the briefest of baptisms, their eternal bond to the river is forged.
37:31Their fate, and the fate of Gorongosa, are now inseparable.
37:42Soon the hatchlings will be fierce little predators,
37:45hungrily snatching up bugs.
37:49But danger is everywhere.
37:51Insatiable catfish pursue them from beneath.
37:57Birds try to pick them off from above.
38:00Their mother will guard them for a few weeks.
38:15A few days later, the hatchlings are ready to hatch.
38:20Their mother will guard them for a few weeks.
38:30Even with her protection,
38:32it's likely that only one or two of this clutch will survive to maturity.
38:41But it will be enough.
38:45Crocodiles are not the only babies making their debut in the park.
38:52Trucks rumble into Gorongosa, carrying unusual cargo.
38:59It's a hippo family, youngster included.
39:04These animals are notoriously difficult to capture and relocate,
39:08but they're as important to the health of the park as elephants.
39:15Their pathways to grazing lawns create channels,
39:19allowing Gorongosa's lifeblood to flow from Lake Urima to other areas of the park.
39:27They deposit valuable nutrients in the water,
39:30nutrients that feed the fish and in turn feed the crocodiles.
39:36Once, Gorongosa boasted a huge population of over 3,500 hippos,
39:42but war reduced them to 100.
39:49Carlos Lopez Pereira wants to get their numbers back up to at least 500.
39:57After completing one of the longest overland elephant relocations,
40:01the Gorongosa team now boasts one of the longest overland hippo relocations.
40:10Hippos are one of the most dangerous animal species in Africa,
40:14and releasing them around people is risky.
40:18Hippos are unpredictable animals.
40:20We don't have guarantees that they will go to the water.
40:24The release team erects a corral to guide the new arrivals down to the river,
40:28away from the onlookers behind.
40:58Hippo
41:12Hey, that's perfect, look at this.
41:17Gorongosa
41:25Carlos gets more than he bargained for.
41:28Yeah, she's pregnant. She has a baby and she's pregnant.
41:32So it will be the first baby born in Gorongosa.
41:38Gorongosa
41:43With new groups of hippos and elephants,
41:46the seeds of Gorongosa's restoration are planted.
41:56And in some corners of the park,
41:58you can see the heart of ancient Gorongosa starting to beat again,
42:02as the herds begin to multiply.
42:07But large swathes of Gorongosa still remain a staggeringly beautiful but empty stage,
42:13awaiting the return of its other star actors.
42:26Now, with the reintroduction and vigorous protection of herds of herbivores,
42:30the great prey icons of Africa finally make their comebacks in Gorongosa.
42:38And one great predator can be seen keeping them in its sights.
42:51Gorongosa's lions may be out of practice, but hunting large prey is in their blood.
43:07Gorongosa
43:26There are around 30 lions in the park today,
43:29well above the number since the end of the war.
43:34With their prey now multiplying, the lions appear to be doing the same.
43:42With the return of predators, Gorongosa begins to feel home again.
43:46But its future depends on the well-being of one final species, humans.
43:52Each morning, villagers pole across the Pongwe River to get their jobs in the park,
43:57some who might otherwise be hungry and forced to hunt Gorongosa's wild animals.
44:10For Greg Carr, securing Gorongosa's future means not just saving animals, but also helping people.
44:22In the park's recovery plan, improving people's lives is critical to success.
44:26So schools and health clinics have gone up, sustainable agriculture brought in,
44:31and now a factory to process and distribute locally grown fruit
44:36is giving employment to local workers and income to farmers.
44:45That's the dream, that we can achieve human development and biodiversity protection at the same time.
44:53But I can tell you that there's real work involved.
45:00For Carlos Lopez Pereira, the stakes for this war-wounded country couldn't be higher.
45:07The fate of the people of this region, of this district, of this country,
45:13is tied to the fate of this park.
45:17If we lose this park, we will not only lose a beautiful place, I think people will lose their soul.
45:29Gorongosa could once again become an engine of prosperity for a struggling nation.
45:35Gorongosa, Mozambique
45:45Each new generation of creatures here carries with it not only the hopes of the park's keepers and the people of Mozambique,
45:52but also conservationists, facing long odds to save damaged ecosystems around the world.
46:00If this lost Eden can once again be called the place where Noah left his ark,
46:07perhaps no wild space is beyond hope.
46:59For more UN videos visit www.un.org