Jos Janisch over at exploregorongosa.com sent me an e-mail about "Africa's Lost Eden" a special about Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park. She was kind enough to provide a link to an official trailer of Africa's Lost Eden.

Cape Buffalo - like this one - are among the fauna visitors can see at Gorongosa National Park
© Bill Given

Africa's Lost Eden U.S. Air Date

While Africa's Lost Eden has already premiered in various parts of the world, you'll want to be in front of the television on Wednesday, March 24th. That evening, it will be shown on the National Geographic Channel (Nat Geo).

Background Story for Africa's Lost Eden

Gorongosa used to be a major safari destination in the 1960s and 1970s. The 1,500 square mile park boasted huge herds and varied wildlife and made Mozambique one of the premier destinations for safari related tourism. Unfortunately, civil war came to Mozambique and had a horribly negative impact on both the human population of Mozambique, as well as the park wildlife. Hence the name of the Nat Geo special - Africa's Lost Eden.

The news isn't all bad. With the help of American Greg Carr, Gorongosa National Park is making a comeback. I wrote a blog post about a 60 Minutes story that covered the fall - and rise - of Gorongosa National Park. I encourage you to check out my Gorongosa National Park blog post to learn more about the park, and to see the 60 Minutes story. It will serve as a good primer for Africa's Lost Eden.

   

Tonight on 60 Minutes here in the United States, there was a special about Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. An American entrepreneur, Greg Carr, cashed in with a partner as the co-inventors of voicemail. Greg walked away with $200 Million and decided to put his entrepreneur skills to work to make the world a better place.

Gorongosa National Park is a 1,500 square mile park in the middle of Mozambique which was an extremely popular tourist destination around 50 years ago. Wildlife was plentiful. Multiple wars sent the country into poverty, and the wars combined with poaching decimated the animal population - especially the big game.

Greg is working on helping the people of Mozambique and actually has an agreement with the government of Mozambique to develop the park over the next 20 years. The key is to bring in more wildlife which will in turn bring in more tourists which will help to prop up the local economy. Greg is doing this responsibly and has a team of scientists to ensure that he reintroduces the right species into the park in the right manner.

See the full video at CBS.com.