Gorongosa National Park has a new fly-camping option that makes it easier to explore the unique forests and plateaus of Mount Gorongosa on foot. The light impact camp has been introduced to allow visitors to stay a night or two on the slopes of the 1,863 m mountain and explore at dawn and dusk when conditions are at their best. Up until now, visitors stayed at one of the accommodation options inside the lowland section of the National Park, which required a day-long excursion to visit the mountain, with a drive of three hours each way. The new Mount Gorongosa Community Camp promises to be a popular option for birders and anyone interested in a deeper dive into the fascinating ecology of Gorongosa.
The camp is the latest initiative of Gorongosa Safaris (formerly Turismo da Gorongosa) which runs a range of accommodation and activities in the park, and directly supports the work of the Gorongosa Restoration Project (GRP). GRP is a collaboration between the Mozambican government and the Carr Foundation, that has been working for nearly 20 years on rehabilitating the park’s previously devastated ecosystems and wildlife. Between protection of remnant populations and reintroductions, the park is now a thriving habitat for African savannah elephant, African lion, African wild dog, Cape buffalo and numerous antelope species. Its waterways teem with hippo and crocodile, and there are over 400 species of birds recorded.
The Community Camp has dome tents, composting toilets and warm water bucket showers, and guests are fully catered and dine at a camp table under an awning. It has a fine setting with a view over the mountain slopes, and guests awake to the rich sounds of the forest life. The walks here are an opportunity to seek out rare endemic birds, including the green-headed oriole and Gorongosa green-headed sunbird, to appreciate the diverse flora and invertebrate life and search for the Gorongosa pygmy chameleon. There are some prepared trails, and more challenging walking suitable for fit visitors.
Gorongosa has trails guides qualified to Field Guides Association of Southern Africa standards, and in areas of the park with big game, the practice is to walk with one rifle-carrying guide for a maximum of four guests and two for groups of up to eight. This does not apply to the mountain, where conditions don’t favour the bigger animals, so rifles are not needed. In addition to guides with the Field Guide and Trails Guide qualifications, the park has a number of trackers trained by South Africa’s Tracker Academy, and these add greatly to the experience. In addition to the Gorongosa Mountain Community Camp, guided walks are available from Muzimu Lodge, Gorongosa Wild Camp and the Activities Centre at Park Headquarters.
Access to Gorongosa is best by air. The park is located north of the city of Beira in Sofala Province in central Mozambique, andthe air routes are via Johannesburg or Maputo to Beira. The most attractive option is to fly from Beira directly into the park’s airstrip with the park’s partner SafariAir, where both seat rates and charter options are available. Alternatively, it’s a four-hour (200 km) drive from there to the park HQ at Chitengo. There’s another air route from Maputo via Chimoio, from where it’s just a two-hour drive to the park; alternatively SafariAir charters can also be organised from Chimoio. Gorongosa Safaris can organise road transfer from either Beira or Chimoio, bearing in mind the park gate closes at 18:00.
For further information and bookings see the new website at gorongosasafaris.com, or email res@gorongosasafaris.com.
Images credit: Gorongosa Restoration Project.
Leave a Reply