Prince Harry Traveled to Mozambique and Rwanda in His Role as President of African Parks

Prince Harry recently traveled to Mozambique and Rwanda in his role as President of African Parks, leading an American delegation to the region. The Duke of Sussex welcomed and co-hosted "a group of U.S. officials, conservationists and philanthropists as they tour protected wildlife and nature areas," a spokesperson for Harry shared.

Harry has been working with African Parks for many years, and became president of the organization in 2017. The conservation group collaborates with governments and local communities to take over the "complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks," per African Parks's website. The nonprofit currently manages 22 national parks and protected areas in 12 countries, including in Mozambique and Rwanda. Their goal is to raise that number to 30 parks by 2030.

"I completely fell in love with African Parks," Prince Harry told Town & Country in 2017, "because they get things done. They make tough decisions, and they stick to principles." His work with them has continued, even after Prince Harry made the choice to step back from his senior royal role.

During his trip last month with the organization, he first went to Mozambique, where the U.S. delegation visited Bazaruto Archipelago National Park in Vilankulo. A photo of Prince Harry showed him in Vilankulos in an African Parks baseball cap, and a casual polo t-shirt and shorts.

According to a statement from African Parks, the trip "was an opportunity to show global leaders that conservation and community development can be mutually reinforcing."
The U.S. delegation included U.S. Senators Chris Coons, Rob Portman, and Gary Peters.

After Mozambique, the group headed to Rwanda. In Rwanda, Prince Harry and the delegation visited Akagera National Park, Central Africa's largest protected wetland. According to African Parks, during the trip, the group met local projects and businesses, "including initiative in Mozambique that turns plastic pollution collected by local women’s groups into construction materials, a successful community cooperative in Rwanda for families to sell harvested goods, a number of community and education facilities, and a recently launched local fish farm."

In Rwanda, Prince Harry also made a few higher-profile appearances. There, he met with President Kagame. (Rwanda and African Parks have an agreement that the organization manages the country's Akagera and Nyungwe National Parks.)

Following his meeting with the president, Harry visited the Kigali Memorial to pay respects to the victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Earlier this summer, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, traveled to Rwanda, where they also toured the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Their visit marked the first ever official British royal visit to the nation.

In 2019, Harry represented African Parks in a trip to Malawi and Botswana, during the Sussexes' royal tour of the region.

"For most of my life, it has been my lifeline, a place where I found peace and healing time and time again," Prince Harry said of Africa in his speech to the United Nations last month. "It's where I felt closest to my mother and sought solace after she died, and where I knew I had found a soulmate in my wife.

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