Gorongosa & Anvil Bay - a Bush and Beach Safari in Mozambique

[michael-ibk]

 

Right, a bit more about the reserve. Apart from driving to and from the lodge we just did a single shortish game drive.

 

For more informaton, please see the main park site from Peace Parks. A lot of information here.

 

Some excerpts: Measuring at approximately over 1 700 km², Maputo National Park forms a central part of the Usuthu-Tembe-Futi TFCA that links the reserve up with Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa via the Futi Corridor. It also includes the Ponta do Ouro-Kosi Bay Transfrontier Conservation Area, linking up with South Africa’s iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site.

 

See a map here:

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/QFpLcnb58ghZyZ4h6

 

The reserve was established way back in 1960, especially for Elephant protection. In 2010, the governments of Mozambique and South Africa, with support from Peace Parks Foundation, began a wildlife translocation programme to Maputo National Park. The park had been pretty empty then. The Management plan for 2000 to 2005 is an interesting read. The species overwiew on page 43 is particularly enlightening:

 

 

 

We could clearly see the big change that Peace Parks have brought around. We´d see good numbers of Zebra, Warthog, Buffalo, Wildebeest all animals that had been gone from the park. Same with Giraffe and Impala, two species not even mentioned in the historic management plan. Which makes me wonder if they ever actally occurred here.

 

 

Actually we had been keen to do something on the boat but the weather did not look too friendly. So that was not really in the cards, it's not easy going out even on a good day.

 

 

So we asked to do a game drive. Januario, a very friendly man who mostly acted as our guide, said that this is a 120 minute (or was it even only 90, not sure anymore) activity. We told him that we would like to see more of the park, and he said he would see what he could do. And to give credit where credit is due, we stayed out from a bit after 08:00 until almost noon. Like I said before, all the staff members were really very pleasant people. But it was clear that proper game driving is not a thing here. No gamedrive vehicle either - we just used a regular car which was of course not ideal and part of the reason why we did not push to do it again. Januario told us the lodge normally has an open car. Don't know about that. For some reason the possibility of game drive activities have now disappeared completely from the lodge homepage anyway. Maybe because of us!

 

But we enjoyed our tour of the reserve a lot - no big action scenes but always something to keep us entertained.

 

 

Three-banded Plover

 

 

While not exactly abundant we saw Nyala regulary. The 2021 game count report has a nice overview about all the animals brought in:

 

 

Of these, we did not see Eland, Kudu and Oribi, Waterbuck only in very low numbers (but we´d see tens of thousands of them later in Gorongosa).

 

 

The song of Rufuos-Naped Lark is everywhere in the reserve.

 

 

 

We saw several Steenboks so I was surprised to read about their relatively low number.

 

 

Brown-hooded Kingfisher, our constant companion throughout the trip.

 

 

We were particularly pleased about the nice Zebra sightings. Not even trying to figure out which subspecies this is but hoping for some of our experts to chime in.

 

 

 

Distant shot but a bit unusual - don't remember ever having seen a Black-bellied Bustard in flight.

[michael-ibk]

48 minutes ago, Peter Connan said:

Legs stretched I think they are about the size of a smallish soup dish?

 Yes, that sounds about right, thanks Peter.

[michael-ibk]

 

 

 

The weather was not exactly great but once in a while a bit of blue popped through the clouds.

 

 

 

Crowned Lapwings love grasslands like this.

 

A lot of beautiful lakes in the reserve - this map gives a good overwiew, also about the camping sites.

 

 

 

No lakes without Hippo:

 

 

 

Where does the good light come from? Cheating a bit, a few photos from our drive out of the park when the weather was very nice.

 

 

 

 

 

A less nicer sighting  - cattle grazing with Zebra. There are still about 500 people living in the reserve in four different settlements.  Families which are
assisted to move out of the park may not return or resettle.

 

"The numbers of cattle in Maputo Special Reserve show a slight increase from 169 counted
in 2019 to 180 in 2021, while goat numbers continue to decrease from 44 counted in 2019
to 30 counted in 2021 (Table 7). However, as part of the long-term goals for the protected
area, the number of cattle and goats need to be substantially reduced as the burning
regime implemented by the communities favours their livestock and the wildlife." (From the 21 game count paper).

 

 

 

A colourful Reed Frog falling in love with the car windscreen.

 

 

 

Birding was ok but not really stellar. Additionally, taking bird photos out of a regular car is pretty tricky

 

 

Not the nicest photo but a bird I was super delighted about - Madagascar Bee-Eater, a lifer for me!

 

Another bird that is not seen too often - African Cuckoo-Hawk.

 

This park definitely sees some bad weather, the trees clearly show how ravaging the wind can be here. Of course cyclones are often catastophic in the country, and everybody I talked to is fearing the next one.

 

Edited January 5 by michael-ibk

[gatoratlarge]

LOL not hardly but you and Andreas are an inspiration!  Doug too---that guy really has a dream job/life!

[michael-ibk]

 

So what about the Elephants? After all, the reserve is often referred to as the "Maputo Elephant Reserve", so where were they? We did not see any on the way in and out, and it seems they are anything but a given here. We had resigned to the fact that we would not see them so were quite happy when we finally had a very distant sighting:

 

 

 

 

But just 15 minutes later Januario and his colleauge shouted "The Elephants, the Elephants":

 

 

RIght, coming over the hill. Our two guides were delighted that we had a good sighting like that - and so were we of course.

 

 

We had been lucky - obviously the Elephants had not seen us, we were just below the hill, and when they did notice they fled instantly. They certainly are anything but relaxed here.

 

 

The last aerial count (in 21) was a bit disheartening - they only found 189, a substantial drop from the 269 in 2019.

 

 

One possible explanation for the lower numbers:

 

"The number of elephants crossing from Mozambique into South Africa, including Tembe Elephant Park, have dramatically increased in 2021, and so the collaring of free-roaming elephants is also necessary to try and understand the drivers behind these movements, thereby hopefully also reducing elephant-human conflict."

 

 

 

Concluding the game drive part with a nice sighting of a Collared Pratincole feeding its chick with a dragonfly:

 

 

A huge meal for the little one:

 

 

*gulp*

 

 

Love Pratincoles with their lipstick look.

 

 

Also the first chick I've seen.

 

 

So coming back to your hesitations @BRACQUENE:

 

Yes, Anvil Bay Lodge is not really a bona fide wildlife lodge, at least not for game drives and birding. Peace Parks seem to have big plans for tourism - they want to get to 65,000 visitors per year, and develop 500 tourism beds (see here, p 51). So I guess lodges and (more) campsites will pop up in the future, but as of yet the reserve is currently largely undeveloped from a tourism perspective. So I'd say for a proper safari experience one would have to come with a private guide and car or simply wait a few years.

 

But again, Anvil Bay is a wonderful place. Such a stunning location, we had a great time here even though we were admittedly disappointed with the absence of proper guides. But we had not really come here for safari so did not mind that much. Would have been very different had that happened in Gorongosa but there we had top class guides. Here we were happy enough with all the other activites offered (more about that coming up) and self-birding and I think it would be very difficult to be unhappy here. It's just important to set your expectations right.

 

 

Edited January 5 by michael-ibk

[inyathi]

I don’t know why giraffes aren’t on that list, I don’t have any reason to believe that they are not native to Maputo NP, as far as I am aware they occurred everywhere in suitable habitat south of the Save River, but not north of the river. so, there were never giraffes in Gorongosa NP, but I don’t think there are any accurate records of their distribution in the country. The Zinave NP Logo is a giraffe, so that park was once a stronghold for them and should be again before long, the current population there, must still be quite small, but GCF, PPF, Mozambique Wildlife Alliance and ANAC have teamed up to carry out what will be one of the largest ever giraffe translocations, moving 350 South African Giraffes to Mozambique, taking them to Banhine NP, Karingani GR, Maputo NP and Zinave NP. They started last year, the first 12 giraffes were taken to Karingani back in August, it will take a few years to complete the operation, but it will ensure that giraffes are secure in Mozambique for the foreseeable future. Giraffes were all but wiped out during the war, there were just a handful left.

 

It seems that I was wrong about leopards, there are already some in the park, that doesn't surprise me.

 

 

Peace Parks TV have quite a lot of videos about the park on YouTube

 

Maputo Special Reserve and Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (Proclaimed in 2009) were amalgamated and became Maputo National Park in 2021, I see that the map that you included is from 2019, I happened to find the Parque Nacional de Maputo website and it has a park brochure with the newest version of the map dated March 23 2023 with new name, but I guess it may still be known as Maputo Special Reserve for a while yet.

 

Maputo National Park  

Edited January 6 by inyathi

[BRACQUENE]

 

10 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

It's just important to set your expectations right.

 

Thanks a lot Michael to respond to my hesitations : my expectations were perhaps a bit to high after reading a lot about the reserve and Anvil Bay ; and that remark you added about " not being able to distinguish a Bulbul from a Kingfisher " didn't help either  but for the moment let's conclude that a few days at Anvil Bay are not the worst thing you can do or simply wait until the full possibilities of the area are exploited 

It reminds me also of the interesting discussions I had with my friend Mike @Bush dog about guiding and the level of knowledge that can be very different depending on the required training ; I have been lucky until now to be guided by some of the best guides in the business !

 

[pedro maia]

Looks like a very nice place to spend a few relaxed days, now I’m looking forward for the Gorongosa part of the trip.

[michael-ibk]

 

Just a bit more patience @pedro maia, three more chapters Anvil Bay, then we're on our way to Gorongosa.

 

Unfortunately we had a fair bit of rain which could start at any given moment. So even when it was sunny we mostly had our umbrellas with us (more to protect the camera than us).

 

 

No matter the weather the beach was always beautiful. But regardless how pristine one appears I'm afraid there are few coasts left in the world that are not littered with plastic. Every morning the staff members went out and cleaned up a substantial part of the beach. I was told it can be quite bad at times, and then for several months no rubbish at all.

 

 

 

Fortunately we got a good fix of sun, warmth and beach fun as well, not just rain.

 

 

These Sanderlings had made the bay their home, it was always fun watching them playing catch with the waves.

 

 

The resident White-Fronted Plovers:

 

 

Just 500 metres off the lodge there are some nice dune hills.

 

 

 

More steep than it looks, one step forward, two back. No problem for Januario who came along with our sundowner snacks.

 

 

Just a small double G&T, thank you.

 

 

 

The staff members were really very pleasant and friendly people.

 

I was a bit disappointed in the lack of seabirds. A few Gannets passing by, the odd Tern now and then, that was it.

 

 

Once in a while a pair of Fish-Eagles would pass through:

 

 

 

Interesting watching this pair bond - very distant unfortunately:

 

 

 

Not to give the impression I was only birding, we enjoyed swimming in the pleasantly warm water very much.

 

But not to lie, of course I could never rest too long before running after one of my feathered friends. I think all in all I recorded about 100 birds here.

 

 

Tawny-Flanked Prinia

 

 

Purple-Banded Sunbird

 

 

Collared Sunbird

 

 

 

Rudd's Apalis, a pretty localised species and a lifer for me I was pretty happy to get.

 

 

Another lifer - a Mouse-coloured Sunbird.

 

 

My best sighting of a Square-tailed Drongo.

Edited January 7 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

 

We also made good use of the lake just behind the lodge. Beautiful place. Walked around once and did two more walks in the area. Were not allowed to do this on our own, we had to be accompanied by a staff member because of the danger of Buffalos and Elephants. In which way exactly the guy keeping us company would have helped us in case - not quite sure, best not to find out about these things!

 

Also had a pleasant Dhow "sunset" cruise, even if the sunshine did not quite cooperate.

 

 

"Two G&Ts please." - "Yes, me too please."

 

 

Surprisingly still sober enough to catch a Giant Kingfisher.

 

 

There's a sunbathing deck at the lake - but I guess it's almost exclusively used by Cormorants.

 

 

 

We did have a very exciting sighting when walking:

 

 

Not one but two (Southern African) Rock Pythons! Just 10 metres away from us. Obviously occupied with really being fond of each other, so we felt a bit guilty about interrupting. I can only assume the much bigger darker one is the female. I'm afraid we did not quite work out where it started and ended so that's not even the whole of it in the frame.

 

 

The longest one measured in South Africa was 4,34 m according to Wiki, this one cannot have been far behind.

 

 

The male (?) was much lighter in colour. After a minute or so they decided five is a crowd so slithered away - becoming totally invisible.

 

 

Several Hippo in the lake but not as many as one would expect.

 

Of course I also got some nice birds around the lake.

 

 

Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird

 

 

 

I don't remember seeing land-based mammals around the lake, with the exception of the odd Duiker, all very shy. Maybe there were some Reed- or Bushbuck but I have forgotten.

 

 

 

Black-backed Puffback

 

 

Forest Weaver

 

 

Little Bee-Eater

[michael-ibk]

 

Apart from eating a lot of fish our marine activites were cut a bit short by the weather which often resulted in the sea being a bit too rough to get out. Unfortunately we were also a bit too early for the (Loggerhead and Leatherback) Turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. Mid-November is when this really gets going I was told. The Anvil Bay homepage says the emergence of the Hatchlings can be seen from December (probably later I'd think) to late March.

 

We did one Snorkel trip which was ok. Still beautiful but not perfectly tide so the water was a bit too high and the light too bad for a really magical experience. You´re pretty much on your own when snorkeling which also does not help. This was done much better when we were at Mafia Island and an experienced guy was with us and showed us where to swim and look. Don't have any worthwile photos from this (only had a very cheap underwater camera with me anyway).

 

 

The one magical experience I had was swimming with a Turtle. This was wonderful, it was "flying" just a few metres below me, and I could follow it for a few minutes.

 

Ah, and then the Whales. Of course they could often be seen from ashore but of course we wanted a closer look.

 

 

 

Our most colourful look ever in Africa.

 

 

We enjoyed very close sightings of about five Humpback Whales. No breaching unfortunately but awesome to be so close to these majestic animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Dolhins or anything else of note but we did have one quite sobering sighting. This poor Turtle had gotten all tangled up in the ropes of a buoy. It was unable to get free, and panicked when out "captain" tried to get if free. He could not manage at first, so we asked him to just get back to the coast, get a knife and help the poor thing. Fortunately he accomplished that when he got back, and I hope the Turtle did not suffer too severe injuries.

 

 

To end on a more joyful note here's one more Humpback:

 

 

And that's it from Anvil Bay - now upwards and onwards to Gorongosa!

[jeremie]

Wow! Love the landscape and and the coastal ecosystem with sand dunes, small lakes and the beach. Really stunning! A rare scene of wildlife still roaming on coastal landscapes of Africa. The green savannas remind me Loango in Gabon, but it is a very distant comparison.

 

Love the crab and plovers pics on the beach too!

 

Speaking about cars, as far as I know, Maputo NP still have some leopards. Peace Parks reported them this year. They are not sure how many of them are still there. They also brought back some cheetahs. Do you have any update about the situation? Did they breed?

Eventually, they brought back hyenas. It seems you have not heard or spot them right?

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Thanks @jeremie, it is a very pretty park indeed with a lot of potential. Since it's very easy to get to I'm sure it will attract many more tourists once they have more accommodations. Unfortunately I cannot answer any of your questions. We did not see or hear any predators (with the exception of one Side-striped Jackal), and the staff members knew nothing about them. Nothing seems to have been mentioned about the Cheetah situation since 2021 (at least according to my google search).

[TonyQ]

It looks like a beautiful relaxing place @michael-ibkand of course you found some excellent birds. Well done on your lifer Bee-eater!

[xelas]

On 1/1/2024 at 7:57 PM, michael-ibk said:

For example, even though they do advertise birding activites nobody is able to tell apart a Bulbul from a Kingfisher.

Ha, I could (barely) so do they offer jobs at Anvil Bay?

 

Lovely photos, great presentation of Maputo. How often my vision of a specific place differs a lot from the actual situation. More travels needed!

 

[xelas]

On 1/5/2024 at 7:55 PM, michael-ibk said:

A colourful Reed Frog falling in love with the car windscreen.

And 100 birds and whales and turtles while eating all day long and just being lazy ... how very Michael way to have relaxed holidays!

 

[Atravelynn]

Thank you for your candid comments on the wildlife viewing in the park.  Where else have you seen such a colorful Reed Frog? A  Pratincole chick?  Sanderlings surrounded by crabs?  Your enthusiasm for birds and animals and your interest in spending good amounts of time out there with them will help pave the way for other visitors who are equally enthusiastic about nature.  Looks like a lot of fun with lots of sun!

[Kitsafari]

100 birds is still a good haul!

[michael-ibk]

On 1/7/2024 at 2:22 PM, TonyQ said:

Well done on your lifer Bee-eater!

 

Thanks Tony, was really happy about this one!

 

On 1/10/2024 at 5:29 PM, xelas said:

More travels needed!

 

Always! Thanks, Alex.

On 1/11/2024 at 12:10 AM, Atravelynn said:

Looks like a lot of fun with lots of sun!

 

Thanks Lynn, we enjoyed it a lot. "Lots of sun" is probably an exxageration though.

 

On 1/11/2024 at 2:51 AM, Kitsafari said:

100 birds is still a good haul!

 

Let´s call it ok. I'm certain I could have found lots more with a dedicated guide who know the park.

[michael-ibk]

Part II: Gorongosa!

 

The drive back to Maputo was very smooth. We had opted for an early departure from Anvil Bay at 06:30 just in case - you never know what might go wrong on the road. But absolutely nothing did, it was not even 10:00 a.m. when we arrived at the airport. The domestic part (in the same building as the international one, just separated by a corridor) was pleasantly quiet. There's one restaurant IIRC, and two cafès IIRC. Our flight for Beira left at 13:15. Again, everything very smooth, and surprisingly good service aboard for such a short flight (75 minutes) - even had a pretty tasty sandwich and some small snacks.

 

Our pilots already waited for us at the luggage belt. We could of course have driven to Gorongosa (about 4 hours) but that would not have been possible today given our arrival time, so an o/n in Beira would have been necesary.  A ravaged city - cyclones/storms Idai (2019), Chalane (2020-21) and Eloise (2021) have caused extensive damage and destruction – Idai destroyed up to 90% of structures in the city. Resilient as people in Africa are I'm sure it has recovered to some extent but I guess it's still not a particularly appealing place for tourists. If you would like to stay there, Hotel Tivoli and the VIP Inn are the ones recommended by Gorongosa NP. (I know nothing about them).

 

 

Much more time-efficient (and of course comfortable) just flying to Gorongosa. About 40 minute. Sorry, cannot really advise about costs (did not ask) but can't have been too bad.

 

Since Mozambique is unfamiliar to most STers I will include some photos from the flight.

 

 

We soon left the houses and huts of Beira behind us. As you can see Mozambique had already received some rainfall, a lot of lush green to be seen.

 

 

The pilot flew very low so we had great views. Soon we could see the splendid wilderness area that was waiting for us:

 

 

The Pungwe River, the Southern boundary of the park.  It rises below Mount Nyangani in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and then flows southeasteastward through the Manica and Sofala provinces of Mozambique.  It is one of the major rivers in the country and often causes floods.

 

 

 

We even saw some Elephants in the river! Well, to be honest (only) Andreas did, I was looking to the other side.

 

The Elephants are also going to the other side - where the crops of the villagers are waiting for them.

 

 

And there we were, Gorongosa National Park! The airstrip at Chitengo (the park's headquarters) is very popular with Warthogs.

 

 

Our bush plane - this had been a very enjoyable flight.

 

 

Here we met with @Doug Macdonald, our tour operator and private guide of many great trips. This was Nr. 6 - good to join up again! And also got to know Camp Guide Richard and his learner "Lucky" (more about both later). An excellent combo for the next six days.

 

But no time to chat, a whole new park was waiting for us!

 

 

The first of about 73,735,5 Waterbuck we'd see.

 

 

Spur-Winged goose saying Hi.

 

 

Nyala (regular but not in big numbers) and Impala (common).

 

Then Richard said: "Would you like to see the Wild Dogs"?

 

What kind of question is that, come on!!!

Edited January 13 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

 

Finding the Dogs 40 minutes after touching ground in the park is not bad.

 

 

At first they were just lying around, very lazy Dogs. Come on, do something for your visitors, we have come from the other side of the World for you. The very least you could do is get up!

 

 

"Sorry pal, maybe tomorrow. It's sooo nice lying around in the mud, surely you understand?"

 

 

But finally some of them started to be a bit more active.

 

 

You can look as grumpy as you like Doggy, I still adore you!

 

 

A few Hooded Vultures were keeping them company. They were around at each and every sighting (yes, we did have multiple Dog sightings) so I was starting to wonder if the same birds hang around with the pack all the time. A bit like pets.

 

This is the Beira pack. They are supposed to number 24 but whenever we counted we never got to more than 20. One of an impressive number of 11(!) packs now in the park Richard told us. The first Dogs had been brought back to the park in 2018, only 14 then. Got a further boost in October 2019 with a pack of 15. Obviously they have done splendidly well! We were told each pack averages 18 members. That would be almost 200 Dogs!

 

 

Looking up?

 

 

For this, a drone. Whenever we caught up with the Dogs a BBC team was present. Not sure if this is a specific Gorongosa project or just part of a general wildlife move / series. The drone was a bit irritating at times but we really could not complain. The BBC guys were tracking the Dogs all the time and were sharing locations with our guide Richard. That was a huge advantage, because as we'd find out later even if you roughly know where they at it's not always easy to get there and find them. Additionally, this was the only pack we'd see during our time in Gorongosa.

 

 

Some of them started to play now.

 

 

 

Sorry for not using the Painted Wolf name - I fully appreciate the reasoning behind this term but I simply haven't gotten used to it.

 

 

The Alphas of most packs are collared as I understand.

 

 

A very interestingly coloured Dog:

 

 

I guess I would not like it if a whole packs sports this look but it's always cool when one of them looks very different.

 

 

 

Edited January 13 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

 

 

We stayed with the pack until dark. Of course, they are one of our very favourite animals. And the thing with them is you should never rely on easily finding them again.

 

 

The light was gone now though. I really battled with my camera. The Canon R7 (with the 100-500) is not half-bad but really not a good choice for low light situations (especially with fast moving animals).

 

 

 

 

 

After a while the pack became highly mobile and we were hoping we could see some hunting action. But they just walked 500 metres and settled again. Cannot fault them, this pool must have felt aweseome for them after the day's heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 18:00 we had to leave - still some way to get to camp. Really could not have wished for a better welcome party.

 

Edited January 13 by michael-ibk

[JimS]

You were blessed twice over - dogs 40mins after arriving, and great light which you've captured beautifully

[TonyQ]

Wow, what a brilliant start to this part of your trip.

Unusual and beautiful colouration of the dogs. Golden

[pedro maia]

Very envious…