Dominique Gonçalves

I grew up in Beira, near Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, hearing my father’s stories about the park and its wildlife, especially the elephants. My work is a holistic blend of ecology, conservation, and human-elephant conflict mitigation.

I am one of the first Mozambican women to work in elephant ecology and conservation. My work focuses on the long-term monitoring of Gorongosa’s elephant population and their habitat use (distribution, movement, and range expansion) to understand and mitigate human-elephant conflict (HEC). The project trains members of the Coexistence team in HEC solutions. With the Elephant Ecology Project, I contribute toward achieving Gorongosa National Park’s broader impact goals, aligning with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly zero hunger, gender equality, and life on land. To help change the face of African conservation, I have appeared in many films, including the award-winning film, Our Gorongosa: A Park for the People.