“Our Gorongosa” World Premiere Hosted by Smithsonian Earth Optimism, Gorongosa National Park and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios

Last Thursday, I had the incredible opportunity to photograph an event at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The museum itself is stunning, and I wish I had been able to go through all of the exhibits. The Oprah Winfrey Theatre is a beautiful space.

Dominique Gonçalves, Manager, Elephant Ecology Project, Gorongosa National Park spoke after the World Premiere of “Our Gorongosa” and I was so inspired by her- she is such a rockstar.

After the film and Q&A in the theatre, there was Mozambique-inspired buffet reception. It was delicious and the sweet potatoes took me right back to my study abroad in Zambia. So good!

Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique was once a thriving national park, until a civil war decimated the park’s large animal populations and halted tourism. A new long-term restoration project is underway to restore the park’s ecosystem, revive tourism, and support local communities. This set of interactive resources presents Gorongosa as a case study to teach concepts in ecology, conservation biology, social science, and inquiry-based science practices.