Bantu-speaking people migrated from West Africa eastward to Lake Victoria and then south to the area now known as Mozambique.
The Portuguese colonized the area and named the country after the Island of Mozambique, which was named after the Arab trader, Mussa Ben Mbiki, who lived on the island.
David Livingstone, a British explorer, traveled the lower Zambezi and Shire rivers in Mozambique to find a passable trade route and to document natural resources along the river.
Chief Chitengo is the ruling chief in one of the local communities of Gorongosa. Gorongosa’s headquarters still bears his name.
Lourenço Marques (now called Maputo) became the capital of Mozambique.
Gorongosa was first established as a 1,000 km sq hunting reserve by 'The Mozambique Company', a private business that managed the center of Mozambique for the Portuguese government.
The Gorongosa Reserve was enlarged to 3,200 sq km to protect habitat for Nyala and rhino.
A new tourist camp was built on the floodplain near the Mussicadzi River but it was abandoned two years later because of heavy flooding in the rainy season. Lions took over the abandoned building and it became known as the Lion House. The building still stands and tourists can visit on their safari, overlooking the floodplains as Gorongosa's lions once did.
In 1951 Chitengo camp was built as the new reserve headquarters and it featured a restaurant and bar.
The government declared Gorongosa a national park while also adding another 2,100 sq km to the park, increasing its size to 5,300 sq km.
Gorongosa was a popular destination for celebrities including John Wayne (actor), Joan Crawford (actress), Gregory Peck (actor), James Lovell (astronaut), Tippi Hedren (actress) and James Michener (author).
The Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) launched a war for independence against Portugal. In 1972, a Portuguese company was stationed in Gorongosa National Park but the war had little impact on Gorongosa and its wildlife.
The government reduced the Park's area to 3,770 sq km to provide more land for local farmers.
Park ecologist, Dr. Kenneth Tinley, led Gorongosa’s first aerial survey for wildlife. Tinley and his team counted about 200 lions, 2,200 elephants, 14,000 buffalos, 5,500 wildebeest, 3,000 zebras, 3,500 waterbucks, 2,000 impala, 3,500 hippos, and herds of eland, sable and hartebeest numbering more than five hundred. His monumental PhD thesis, “Framework of The Gorongosa Ecosystem”, still stands as the definitive ecological work on Gorongosa and is used as a reference tool by Park Management today.
When Mozambique gained independence from Portugal, Samora Machel was appointed as president of the country.
In 1976, a year after Mozambique won its independence from Portugal, aerial surveys of the Park and adjacent Zambezi River delta counted thousands of elephants in the region and a healthy population of lions, numbering in the hundreds. It was the largest lion population recorded in the greater Gorongosa region to date.
A civil conflict between the Mozambican Government (Frelimo Party-controlled) and the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo), a group funded and trained by neighboring countries, raged. Fighting continued to take place within the park and on Mount Gorongosa until 1992. After the war, in 1993-96, professional hunters added to the carnage already suffered by the animals during the armed conflict, and many of Gorongosa’s large animal populations were reduced by 90% or more.
Joaquim Chissano was elected president in Mozambique’s first national multiparty elections.
The African Development Bank (ADB) began a 5-year effort to rebuild Gorongosa’s infrastructure and restore its wildlife with help from the European Union and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The first wildlife survey since the conflict counted 100 elephants, 300 reedbuck, 100 waterbuck, and only a handful of zebra and small antelope. Many of Gorongosa’s iconic large grazers and predators had vanished.
Roberto Zolho, Gorongosa Park Warden in 1997, together with a motivated group of Park scouts, were an important part of the rehabilitation of the Chitengo Camp infrastructure that took place in the final years of the 20th Century.
Armando Guebuza was elected as president of Mozambique.
On his first visit to Gorongosa, Greg Carr saw the potential for Mozambique's flagship park to return to its former glory, as he wrote in the park's guest book: "This is a spectacular park and it could become one of the best in Africa with some assistance"
The Gorongosa Restoration Project, a U.S. based non-profit organization, teamed up with the Government of Mozambique under a memorandum of understanding to restore Gorongosa National Park.
A 62 sq km fenced wildlife sanctuary was built inside the park with support from USAID in preparation for a large-scale wildlife restocking effort. The sanctuary was designed to protect relocated wildlife for several years while their numbers increase until herds are large enough to be released to the greater park area.
The Gorongosa Restoration Project built a new primary school and a new health clinic in Vinho community to provide better access to health care and education for local people.
The first historic meeting was held with members of the Canda community on Mount Gorongosa to talk about projects in their community. Shortly after, 60 local scouts were hired to work in tourism and conservation and they began guiding tourists up the mountain to see the waterfall, the rainforest, and camp overnight on the peak.
54 buffalos were relocated from South Africa’s Kruger National Park to Gorongosa’s new wildlife sanctuary.
President Guebuza visited the park and was the first to stay in one of 9 modern bungalows with a total of 18 rooms, constructed for the growing demand from tourists.
31 buffalos were captured and relocated from Limpopo National Park, Mozambique and 180 wildebeest were relocated from South Africa to Gorongosa’s wildlife sanctuary.
An aerial survey of wildlife revealed that the numbers of most wildlife species in the park had risen dramatically since 1994.
Lions were photographed at the ‘Lion House’, on Gorongosa’s floodplain, for the first time since the 1960’s.
The Government of Mozambique and the Gorongosa Restoration Project sign a 20-year agreement to jointly manage Gorongosa National Park.
A television crew from CBS 60 Minutes filmed for their special report on the Gorongosa restoration story.
6 bull elephants were relocated from Kruger National Park, South Africa and 5 hippos were relocated from Isimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa to the heart of Gorongosa.
A new restaurant, called ‘Chikalango’, opened in Chitengo camp in the park, bringing great food to park tourists.
Explore Gorongosa, a luxury safari camp, hosted their first guests at their tented camp on the banks of the Mussicadzi river deep in the wilderness of Gorongosa.
Gorongosa provided mobile clinic services to communities located far from a health center.
54 more buffalo were relocated from Kruger National Park in South Africa to Gorongosa’s wildlife sanctuary.
This marked the first year that 20% of revenue for Gorongosa’s tourism fees was divided among 15 communities surrounding the park.
A National Geographic special -- “Africa’s Lost Eden”, about the restoration of Gorongosa, premiered around the world.
A state-of-the-art Community Education Center (CEC) was built using green technology to host education programs for local children and adults. Books for Kids Africa created community libraries to add to the CEC’s resources.
The Government of Mozambique announced that Mount Gorongosa would be incorporated into the park, increasing the park’s size to 4,067 sq km. They also announced the addition of a 3,300 sq km buffer zone around the park.
An aerial survey of Gorongosa wildlife showed that the numbers of wildlife in the park have risen about 40% in the last 3 years.
Renowned biologist, E.O. Wilson, visited Gorongosa National Park to begin collecting information for his new book, “Life on Earth”. While in the park, he performed a Bioblitz on Mount Gorongosa.
Scientists from the Field Museum of Chicago explored and documented Gorongosa’s wildlife. Among other discoveries, the scientists found a species of shrew that is new to science and found nowhere else but the highlands of Zimbabwe.
47 more buffalos were relocated from Kruger National Park in South Africa to Gorongosa’s wildlife sanctuary.
The Visabeira Group - operator of the Girassol hotels in Mozambique and Angola - was selected to manage Chitengo camp - the largest tourism facility inside Gorongosa National Park.
National Geographic’s second film in Gorongosa featured the park’s elephants as the world’s foremost elephant researcher Dr. Joyce Poole and her brother, cameraman Bob Poole, work to gain their trust.
"Africa" is a BBC and Discovery channel co-production made by the award-winning documentary team that created the acclaimed 2009 natural history series "Life". Drawn from over 2,000 hours of footage gathered from 1,598 days on location and over 553 cameras deployed in the field, the series paints a breathtaking portrait of Africa. In the final episode of the series, titled Africa: The Future, Gorongosa National Park is featured prominently. Famed naturalist David Attenborough hosts the episode in which acclaimed biologist E.O. Wilson and Gorongosa’s own budding young Mozambican scientist, Tonga Torcida make an appearance from the Park.
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