90 m ay 2 0 1 9
Therewasa faintwhiffofaviationfuelinthecockpit,
but pilot Hannes van Wyk seemed unperturbed as
he methodically penned his paperwork. We were
30 minutes into the flight, heading due west from
Vilanculos on the coast into the interior in a Peace
Parks Foundation (PPF) plane, which is used
primarily for aerial surveys in Zinave. Tall and slim,
Hannes had virtually slithered into the pilot’s seat of
this tiny plane. I sat next to him and the rest of the
space was taken up with my tog bag and a few
oddments in the stowage area – there’d be no snacks
and drinks on this flight. I was on my way to Zinave
to join PPF staff doing wildlife translocations. The
park is being restocked after years of neglect.
Most of the flight, so far, had been over sweeping
wilderness. The countryside rolled out in all
directions and there was no apparent sign of human
settlement anywhere. When we landed on the gravel
runway in Zinave, alongside the shimmering Save
River, I was mesmerised by the raw beauty of the
place. From the air, it’s impossible to appreciate the
ironwood, fever tree and massive mopane forests,
twinkling lakes festooned with water lilies, nor see
the long-legged waterbirds picking their way through
the shallows. Glistening green after massive summer
rains, this bucolic setting is now being populated
with wildlife once again.
Big changes have been happening in Zinave.
Waterbuck, reedbuck, nyala, giraffe, impala, kudu,
oribi, hippo, warthog, buffalo and elephant alreadyinhabittheparkandmorearearrivingeverymonth
as part of one of the biggest rewilding programmes
ever undertaken in Africa. When complete, about
7 500 animals encompassing 10 different species will
have been translocated to Zinave. Moving wildlife
here from neighbouring countries started in October
2016 and is set to continue until 2020. In all, 120 game-
capture staff, veterinarians, ecologists, helicopter
pilots and truck drivers are involved in this large-
scale endeavour.
Although Zinave acquired national-park status in
1972, Mozambique’s long civil war which ended in
1992, decimated wildlife in the reserve. PPF signed a
co-management agreement with the Mozambique
government in 2015 in order to jointly develop Zinave
as an integral part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier
Conservation Area.
This huge tract of land will stitch together animal
migration routes and tourism links between South
Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. And the
intention is to identify and develop wildlife corridors
to connect Zinave with Banhine and Limpopo
national parks in Mozambique.
PPF senior project manager for Mozambique,
Antony Alexander, was in Zinave when we landed.
A truck carrying wildlife from Kruger National Park
was expected to arrive the next day and he was
smoothing out red-tape issues with scant comms.
‘In the short term, we want to restore the ecosystem
by fast tracking the restocking of wildlife, becauseABOVE Lake Zinave and
various other bodies of
water in the park, ensure
that waterbirds, like
these yellow-billed
storks, are plentiful
all year round. Bernard van Lente, Keri HarveyZinavenationalPark,inhambane Province
WORDS BY KERI HARVEYTravel MOZAMBIQUE