Some places inspire you. Some places amaze you.
And then there are places like Gorongosa National Park that make you glad that one person really can change the world.
Gorongosa has experienced quite a journey over the last 80 years. In the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, it was considered one of Africa’s premier wildlife destinations. Then came the Mozambique Civil War, which lasted nearly 20 years and devastated both the park and the surrounding communities. Wildlife populations collapsed, infrastructure disappeared, and many local families struggled simply to survive.
Today, Gorongosa is one of Africa’s great conservation success stories.
More than 300,000 people now live in the “buffer zone” surrounding the park. Twenty years ago many families lived in extreme poverty. Today there are schools, healthcare clinics, clean water systems, economic opportunities, and over 100 free preschools serving local children.
The wildlife has made an equally remarkable comeback. Scientists have documented hundreds of species of plants and animals, and the park is once again teeming with life.
The driving force behind much of this transformation is Greg Carr, an Idaho native who made his fortune as a young entrepreneur by helping pioneer voicemail technology and investing in Prodigy long before the internet became part of daily life.
Rather than retiring to a yacht somewhere, Greg chose a different adventure.
Twenty years ago he established the Carr Foundation and partnered with the Government of Mozambique to restore Gorongosa. Recently, he committed to another twenty years of support.
The results are extraordinary.
Becoming Gorongosa Groupies
Ed and I have been unofficial Greg Carr groupies since 2015.
That year we attended a presentation at the Community Library in Ketchum, Idaho. Local filmmaker Bob Poole had created a National Geographic documentary about Gorongosa’s transformation. It aired on PBS and both Bob and Greg came to discuss the project.
We left the presentation inspired—and determined to visit someday.
As it turned out, “someday” took a while.
We planned trips in both 2020 and 2025. One was cancelled by Covid. The other was cancelled by political unrest.
Apparently Gorongosa wanted us to prove our commitment.
Finally, in June 2026, we made it.
And it was worth every delay.
Glamping, Safari Style
We visited Gorongosa with our friends Grace Harvey and John Bailey from Sun Valley and spent our first three days at Chicari Camp, the park’s luxury wilderness safari lodge.
This was technically camping.
The kind of camping where someone else makes your bed, serves gourmet meals, and brings you coffee.
The best kind of camping.
Each day we explored the park in an open-air jeep driven by our guide, Agness.
Agness is a 29-year-old dynamo from Malawi who speaks English and Portuguese and seems to know absolutely everything about Gorongosa. She could spot wildlife hidden hundreds of yards away while the rest of us were still trying to locate it after she pointed directly at it.
“Over there!”
“Where?”
“Next to the tree.”
“What tree?”
“The big tree.”
“There are 500 trees.”
Meanwhile, Agness had already identified the species, gender, approximate age, and likely mood of the animal.
She introduced us to baboons, elephants, impalas, warthogs, and countless other species.
Following the civil war, scientists supported by the Carr Foundation carefully studied which species had disappeared and developed a long-term plan to reintroduce animals from neighboring countries.
The strategy has worked.
Elephants now roam the park in large family groups. We learned that some can still be aggressive because generations of elephants experienced intense hunting pressure during the war.
Fortunately, our elephants seemed content to ignore us.
Mostly.
At one point we heard a very loud trumpet blast from somewhere behind our vehicle. Agness immediately accelerated while the four of us suddenly became very interested in moving quickly in the opposite direction.
Thankfully, we never saw what was making the noise. Sometimes ignorance is comforting. We were content at viewing these magnificent creatures from a distance.
Lions have also returned, although not in the numbers we saw last year in Botswana.
Love was clearly in the air. We witnessed a private moment for two lions and two nyalas, both of whom seemed focused on helping Gorongosa’s wildlife recovery one baby at a time.
The most successful comeback story may be the waterbuck, which now seem to be everywhere.
Our Favorite Animal
Without question, our favorite animal was the endangered pangolin.
If you’ve never seen a pangolin, imagine that an armadillo and a pine cone somehow had a baby.
They are among the most trafficked mammals in the world and are carefully protected in Gorongosa.
We visited a special conservation program where pangolins are monitored and cared for while still being allowed to forage naturally.
The pangolins spend several hours each day searching for ants and termites.
They also appeared perfectly content being carried around in what looked remarkably like a baby sling.
It was hard not to fall in love with them.
Sun and Moon … Together!
During one magical sundowner, we witnessed the sun setting in the west while the moon quietly rose in the east. It was one of those rare moments that makes you stop talking and simply soak it all in.
A Visit to a Village
One day we crossed a river in a traditional boat to visit a nearby village.
The village preschool was one of the highlights of our trip.
More than 100 preschoolers were outside playing games, laughing, and preparing for snack time.
Within minutes we found ourselves playing soccer, jump rope, and hopscotch.
The children were far better at all three activities than we were.
Inside the classroom, colorful learning materials filled the ceiling and walls.
Our favorite lesson?
“P is for Pangolin.”
Not many American preschools can say that.
We were also delighted to see banners highlighting women pilots, judges, doctors, and other professionals.
The future looks bright for these students.
Snack that day consisted of porridge fortified with moringa and peanut butter. Nutritious meals are a major incentive for parents to send children to school, and attendance rates have increased dramatically as a result.
At the local health clinic we met a woman who had given birth just the night before. Mother and baby were doing well, while other women arrived for prenatal care and well-baby visits.
The village also had access to clean water through several boreholes.
A simple thing.
A life-changing thing.
Education Changes Everything
Education (especially for girls and women) is one of the pillars of the Carr Foundation’s work.
We met several students who had received scholarships to study abroad, including Gabi, a Boise State graduate who now oversees the preschool program in Gorongosa.
Agness mentors young women who are rising in the ranks at the park.
We also met a team of professors from Boise State who are developing a study-abroad program in Mozambique.
It’s amazing how often Boise State appears in conversations nearly 10,000 miles from Idaho.
Science in the Bush
One of the surprises of our visit was Gorongosa’s E.O. Wilson Science Center.
Nestled in the middle of rural Mozambique is a sophisticated research facility equipped with advanced scientific equipment including DNA analysis tools, high-performance liquid chromatography systems, scientific freezers, and specialized laboratory equipment.
Scientists can collect specimens in the morning and begin analyzing them the same afternoon.
During our visit, researchers from Poland were studying micro-vertebrates, while graduate students from the region were pursuing advanced degrees.
The late Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson was instrumental in promoting biodiversity research in Gorongosa, and his influence remains evident throughout the center, including in the lab where they store specimens of the biodiversity of the park.
We learned that Greg Carr has achieved a level of conservation fame that most of us can only dream about: scientists named a species after him. Gorongosa carri, a cricket-like katydid found on Mount Gorongosa, now permanently carries his name. Most people are lucky to get a park bench dedicated in their honor. Greg got a bug.
A Hospital on the Horizon
As if all of this weren’t enough, Gorongosa recently announced plans to partner with the University of Pittsburgh to build a state-of-the-art hospital serving the region.
Greg is currently assembling support from major donors, and construction is expected to begin soon.
The impact on healthcare throughout the region could be transformative.
Our Small Attempt to Give Back
As a tiny contribution to all that Gorongosa has given others, we conducted a Design Thinking workshop for fourteen community development managers from the park.
Jan presented the Stanford Design Thinking curriculum while Jacob, a park employee, simultaneously translated into Portuguese.
Ed handled technology support, answered questions, and occasionally rescued the PowerPoint presentation.
The participants were enthusiastic, engaged, and full of ideas.
We plan to translate the materials into Portuguese so they can continue using them with their teams.
It was a small contribution, but one we hope will be useful.
Obrigada, Greg!
Visiting Gorongosa was one of the most uplifting experiences we have had in years.
The park demonstrates what can happen when conservation, education, healthcare, economic opportunity, and local leadership all work together toward a common goal.
Greg Carr is remarkably humble and unassuming. Yet the impact of his vision is visible everywhere—in the schools, the clinics, the villages, the wildlife, and the opportunities available to thousands of families.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the problems in the world.
Gorongosa is a reminder that progress is possible.
And sometimes it starts with one person who decides to do something about it.
PS: Our next four days will be spent chasing vultures across the African bush with a scientist known locally as ‘The Vulture Lady.’ Stay tuned…
