Message of hope

Along the stream atop the Muromedzi waterfall we sat watching the production of seedlings.  The preparation of soil for each seedling was done with the caring hands of a midwife.  The volunteers and Park staff sat in this rich earth and sang songs of Mt. Gorongosa.  The songs were accompanied by the sounds of flowing water and the birds in the surrounding trees.  The scene gave us hope that this mountain can be healed from the cutting and clearing that has taken place by farmers pushing further into the forest.

Pedro Muagura oversees the seedling production and planting, and the other forty nurseries on the mountain.  This single nursery has the capacity for nearly 100,000 trees. Muagura is the Conservation Director of Gorongosa National Park.   He is like one of the great trees of this mountain which he fights to restore.  He stands tall in leading his mountain scouts with the charisma of a military general preparing for battle.  Muagura also adapts to the changing conditions of the mountain as he is one day working with a BBC film crew and the next he is apprehending poachers in the Park.  As he sings one of the mountain songs of conservation with his forest managers he exudes the spirit of this beautiful mountain that goes deep, like the roots of this forest.  

Pedro Muagura, Director of Conservation, Parque Nacional da Gorongosa.

Muagura showed us a variety of trees in the nursery. He and his staff strive to match the diversity of forest lost by slash and burn agriculture.  He is connected to the trees in so many ways.  Muagura named one of his daughters Bridelia, after the this beautiful Bridelia tree that grows in the montane rainforest.

Seeing the movements of the volunteers and mountain staff in the nursery showed us the entire procedure in preparing the trees for reforestation.  For each seedling a recycled plastic sugar bag is filled with the rich mountain soil that has been pre-sifted for roots and rocks. The bags of soil are packed in tight rows on the ground for the specific tree species to be planted within.  Some of the young seedlings are later placed under a thatch-covered platform that provides a shaded area matching the shading effect of the forest canopy.  As the seedlings continue to grow they are shifted in position along their row in order to break the root ball forming outside the planter.

After about 2 ½ months in the nursery, the seedlings are ready to plant on the mountain.  Muagura and his scouts conduct extensive patrols across the mountain in part to target areas that require restoration.  We had the good fortune to travel with Muagura and his forest managers and many volunteers to take some of the seedlings up the mountain to an area of cut forest covered by old maize crops.   At the base of the four-kilometer ascent up the mountain each seedling was removed from its soil and planter and wrapped in fern leaves.  We then meandered up a narrow trail around a small village through freshly burnt landscape and then up through lush green montane rainforest.  After passing dense understory on the steep slope we came to a sterile region full of dried maize plants with barren tree trunks that stood like skeletons on the crest. 

On the crest the team began their work by laying out a guiding rope in this well-managed planting effort. Muagura pointed out the specific areas to be planted at the edge of the intact forest. 

The approach to this devastated section of mountain was depressing, for us visitors.  However, the work of this amazing group of people gave us all hope.  We had hope that the remaining forest will be preserved.  We had hope that the tree-planting will restore lost habitat.  We had hope that these beautiful people will continue to sing their mountain songs.