Filmed in Mozambique, a nation ravaged by deforestation and constant warfare, Ndzou Camp tells the story of a community determined to protect their elephant population and conserve their natural resources while pursuing tourism as a means of a more sustainable future.
In modern-day Africa, elephants are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas, and, oftentimes, lured by foods they enjoy eating, they will raid and destroy local crops, causing farmers to lose their entire livelihoods due to one overnight raid. These animals inspire fear and anger in those who share their land and are often killed in retaliation.
Ndzou Camp (ndzou means elephant in the local language) has instituted an innovative solution to handling these problems: they set up wire fences with beehives every six meters. When elephants approach and shake the wire, the bees attack and the elephants leave. In addition to allowing for nonviolent means for man and wildlife to live in tandem, the community plans to make a business exporting honey.
The Mpunga community of Mozambique is hours away from an urban center and offers few opportunities for employment for men or women, aside from working in agriculture. Polygamy is a standard practice, with most women being forced into early marriages. Twenty-one-year-old Rute was able to secure a job as a waitress at the camp, the only opportunity she explains, that is available where she can save for her education.
As the residents explain, the benefits of Ndzou Camp, which opened in 2010, go well beyond the creation of 20 full- and part-time jobs. The revenue the camp provides has helped open a school and expand the horizons of women long kept down in this male-dominated, polygamous culture. “What I think will help the community is if we have more schools,” says 21-year-old Rute Fernando Ranguana, who works at the camp and now plans to finish high school and go to college. “Then things will change.”
Today, in Mpunga, the elephant population is thriving; tree nurseries are providing for the re-establishment of the natural forest; and there is a lodge, run on solar energy, which can accompany an influx of tourists. They all provide for economic opportunities that were nonexistent a few years earlier.
