Maputo — At least a third of the 6,200 hectare wild life sanctuary of the Gorongosa National Park, in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, was completely destroyed by uncontrolled bush fires between 2 and 9 October, reports Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

The sanctuary is an isolation area for animals that have recently been brought into the country from South Africa to restock the park.

The fire breaks installed by the park management proved insufficient, and the flames leapt across them. It took 48 hours of uninterrupted work by a team of park workers to bring the fires under control along a three kilometre long front, and a further three days of consolidation by ten workers,

The director of the Conservation Department of the Gorongosa Park, Carlos Lopes Pereira, told reporters that early this month the satellite systems to detect fires saw a number of them in the area of Nhanguo, that are thought to have been intentionally set by poachers or unintentionally by local communities. He added that other fires were detected in the area of Tambara.

The fires have destroyed a great deal of grass, resulting in a shortage of food for the animals, which may oblige the park management to let them out of the sanctuary.

"Depending on the situation, namely the availability of food, we may have to take a decision to keep them in or to let them out. And letting the animals out means exposing them to the action of poachers who remain very active, despite arrests and the dismantling of their traps", said Pereira.

The total area of the Gorongosa Park is 3,770 square kilometres. Much of the wildlife it contained was destroyed during the war of destabilisation, and the authorities have been gradually restocking it with animals acquired from South Africa.