Hopefully I've tied Greg Carr down to an interview, to be done by video, and so I'm asking for members to submit questions.

Appreciate you might not want to give your real name, so I'll put your questions to him in your user name unless otherwise stated. Also please state where you are from, continent is fine if you don't want to be country specific.

For background reading, visit www.gorongosa.net which details the restoration project of the park, and watch the video which I posted here.

Time is short for this, as he's not in Lisbon long, so closing date for submission is Thursday afternoon 3.00pm GMT.

Thanks in advance, Matt

For some background on Greg Carr, see the Wikipedia entry here.

Since I will be there in late August, you can fully disclose my name, that I am from Italy and I hope to have a little chat with him if he is around (I will ask the manager/guide at Explore Gorongosa about it).

My questions (three of many....) would be:

1) "Why are there so many difficulties in moving zebra into the Park and why the remaining local ones have fared so poorly?"

2) "Is there (or is it being developed) a zoning plan for Gorongosa in terms of public use areas and private concessions and what are the relevant criteria for apportionment?"

3) "Is it conceivable that in the near future the Park will be extended in order to incorporate Mount Gorongosa?"

I hope they are not too narrow in scope.....Also, English is not my first language, so you are totally free to re-work my questions as you deem appropriate!

Thanks

Paolo

In Carr Foundation Proposal for Gorongosa National Park Buffer Zone Delimitation and Management of the Greater Gorongosa Ecosystem (January 2006)
they say:
May I extend Paolo's question by asking if this process of defining Park Management Zones has already been completed, or when it will be completed.

A somewhat logical extension of this line of questioning is:

What plans are in place (or will be in place) to ensure that a substantial proportion of the income derived from tourism at all levels does indeed benefit the human population (both local and country-wide)?

You can say I'm from the U.S.

A few seconds into the 60 Minutes video and I certainly remembered it and how impressed I was the first time around! Second time through, even moreso.

The magnitude of this once grand park and the extent it has fallen offers both tremendous hope as well as despair at what a treasure was nearly decimated.

The challenge is sizeable given that in 1992 Mozambique was the poorest country on earth. (fact from links)

Here are some questions that you can reword or expand upon or discard altogether. I employed the shot gun approach in hopes of offering up a couple of keepers:

What are some of your biggest wildlife successes so far?

Can you describe the training the local people undergo in connection with the park? Both the hospitality staff and the naturalists?

Do you recall when you decided Gorongosa would become a major project for you? Were you immediately captivated by the park’s beauty and potential or did you formulate this mission over time?

Has the recent economic downturn caused you to alter any of your plans or suggestions?

What type of tourism market are you pursuing? Rustic? Luxury chic? Cultural? Hiking/trekking?

What role has botany played in the park restoration?

Are there endemic birds or animals in Gorongosa?

Have changing weather patterns impacted Gorongosa to this point and do you foresee an impact in certain parts of the park or with certain species?

Can you describe the challenges of bringing in animals from other countries?

What strategies have been most effective in reducing poaching? Have you employed a mix of incentives and deterrents? Can you describe those?

Are other national parks following some of your practices so that you can become a model within Africa or worldwide?

Have you tried to emulate the successes of other park restorations and if so, which ones?

When did your interest in Africa first begin?

Have you found the local and national government to be helpful to your mission?

Corruption--what have been your experiences in dealing with it?

How much time do you spend in Gorongosa?

The various national parks in Africa are often associated with qualities (from activities to landscape to animals to culture) unique to that destination. What features of Gorongosa do you hope to promote to distinguish it as a special destination?

From where do you see the bulk of your visitors coming?

What is your message to people considering a visit to Gorongosa?

What is your opinion on selling or banning the sale of ivory?

What are your biggest hopes and fears for Gorongosa?

Do you have a favorite African animal?

Have you been able to share the beauty of Gorongosa with friends and family and enjoy their reactions?

Lynn from Wisconsin, USA

Wow! Now that's a list.

One I had previously thought of but forgot, is along the lines of Lynn's "role of botany" question. I would like to know what is being done ecologically, in addition to bringing in animals. Are certain types of habitats being restored or will passive, protection of what's still there" be the priority.

What is being done to "protect the best, restore the rest"?

Re-word as appropriate.

Ei, Lynn, where is your good education? Do you really expect a true answer to that question? This guy must work with the local authorities and can't risk that anyone is losing his face.

I agree about the corruption question.

This one is similar: "Have you found the local and national government to be helpful to your mission?"

I'll add a few of mine, in advance of the interview later:

Gorongosa was the scene of extended military conflict, including aerial bomboardment. What action has been taken to clear military ordnance from the environment, and what risk is there to visiting tourists?

What is your long term plan to protect the park's wildlife from both sustenance poaching, and organised poaching syndicates, whether it be bushmeat or ivory etc?

Will Gorongosa be a fenced ecosystem, or will its boundaries be open? How will the movement of wildlife from the park be prevented, and likewise, what steps are in place to prevent the illegal access / encroachment of human populations?

With such low levels of wildlife, whether endemic or translocated, how can genetic diversity in species be assured?

Has establishing a wildlife corridor with another wildlife diverse area been considered, if so, where and how will this be undertaken?

I would be interested in if they are gearing themselves for some tourism from South Africa, or is their main focus on USD.

ie. Will the average South African be able to enjoy this? Self drive?

Okay, thanks everyone who took the time to submit their questions. I think the best idea is to compile them into a word document and depending on time, give Gregg Carr the opportunity to select a cross section to answer.

Matt

I was contacted by Ian Manning who some of you know of, and he submitted the following question:

The interview will take place tomorrow, Friday.

Thanks again, Matt.

Please see my other urgent request for interview questions for The Botswana High Commissioner to the UK, Roy Blackbeard here.

Thank you for doing this Matt!

Here I am with Greg at his hotel in Lisbon ...



Interview to follow, but please see my comments here.

Paolo, look at Candidacies for tourism activity development in GNP exceed expectations. A larger version of that map can be found here.

Don't wear true game wardens shorts...?

Thanks Nyama. It would seem that Gorongosa will see many commercial developments in the foreseeable future.... I am just glad that I will be visiting this year!

By the way, Explore Gorongosa is located in Msicadzi TDA.

I think it will be like in North Luangwa. You don't see and hear anything from the operators of the other private concessions.

Just read about one of their walks to Casa dos Leões (Lion House). This is in the public area east of Rio Mussicadzi (Msicadzi). So they're operating on both sides of the river?

Btw, we spoke about it some time ago... I found another reference to the length of their walks - in the fact sheet on their website they say 2-4 hours.

As far as I know, they operate both within their concession and in the public areas of the Park (in any event, the camp is usually located not very far from Lion House).

I do not know whether you can walk also in the public areas. As to game drives, the main difference is that within the private concession (s) you are freely allowed to go off road (terrain permitting), whilst in the public areas you can go off road only at a confirmed sighting.

Nyama,

Perhaps I am a little slow, but I am failing to grasp your point. Could you expand a bit?

Just what I said in that line.

Do you mean that it will hapen that a couple of operators will gain reputation among the safari community ( e.g. Kutandala, Mwaleshi), whilst other outfitters will be not really spoken about (e.g. Buffalo, Delia)?

Are you also implying that, in your view, Gorongosa will still remain a quiet place for a few years down the line?

Not in the public area, but certainly in the private concessions. Isn't exclusivity the nature of private concessions?

Definitely not. I'm not a big friend of these so-called "reputations". I think it mainly depends in which safari community you're moving. Reputations are a mix of clever marketing, personal preferences and hearsay, and I regard most of them as illusions.


I don't have a single piece of information from which I might conclude that Mark Harvey is not as good in guiding than the other guys in North Luangwa, so there must be other reasons why some people don't go to Buffalo Camp, and not the often cited "quality of guiding". Three days ago I was in contact with someone who spends more than six months each year in Africa and who has visited Buffalo Camp more than a dozen times. Yes, he certainly belongs to a different safari community...

And yes, I once heard the following statement by experienced safari goers and recurrent North Luangwa visitors: "Ernst Jacobs can't be a good guide because he doesn't run his own business." - another good example how reputations, or non-reputations, are built up. In this case it worked for Rod who better fit into the value system and mindset of those clients than Ernst.

If I go to a Spanish travel forum my limited knowledge of that language at least tells me that there also happy visitors of Delia Camp.


If I had always followed those operators who had gained a certain "reputation" I had missed the most exciting night drives of my life at Busanga Trails and instead had ended up with African Experience (I guess there's not a single trip report about Busanga Trails on the web). I had never visited wonderful Rhino Camp, instead I had gone to Musango (terrible). And I certainly hadn't chosen Nick Murray for my first canoeing on the Zambezi... and no, it wasn't Rod's "reputation" as a guide which had driven me to Kutandala, it was just curiosity about the next camp by the Mwaleshi... and that I got stuck there had more to do with the reading table in the bathroom than Rod's guiding qualities.

Reputation... to me it's a very subjective thing, and too often it has something to do with which we call Stallgeruch in my language (stable odour?). Sorry for this excursus.