Gondola District

Gondola District is a district of Manica Province in western Mozambique. The principal town is Gondola. The area of the district is 5739 km2. It has a population of 262,412 as of 2007.

Geography
The district is located in the east of the province, and borders with Gorongosa District of Sofala Province to the northeast, Nhamatanda District of Sofala Province to the east, Buzi District of Sofala Province to the southeast, Macate District to the south and southwest, Chimoio District to the west, and Vanduzi District to the northwest.

The main river in the district is the Pungwe River, which makes the border with Gorongosa District.

The climate of the district varies with altitude. The lowlands are characterized by relatively low rainfall, between 800 mm and 1100 mm. The transition zone has the average rainfall 1200 mm, and in higher altitude plains it varies between 1000 mm and 1500 mm.

History
The settlement of Gondola was developed as a station on a railroad connecting Beira and Salisbury.

Demographics
As of 2005, 46% of the population of the district was younger than 15 years. 44% did speak Portuguese. The most common mothertongue is Chitwe language. 63% were analphabetic, mostly women.

Administrative divisions
The district is divided into four postos, Amatongas (three localities), Cafumbe (three localities), Gondola (one locality), and Inchope (three localities).

Economy
2% of the households in the district have access to electricity.

Agriculture
In the district, there are 39,000 farms which have on average 1.5 ha of land. The main agricultural products are corn, cassava, cowpea, peanut, sorghum, sweet potato, and rice.

Transportation
There is a road network in the district which includes 130 km of paved roads and 255 km of unpaved roads. In particular, the national road EN1 (paved) crosses the district north to south, and the national road EN6 (unpaved) connects the coast with Zimbabwe. In 2005, 124 km of roads were closed because of minefields.

A railroad connecting Beira with Machipanda and Zimbabwe crosses the district.