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

[Pictus Safaris]

@ice- happy to discuss by pm to avoid hijacking this thread. In brief, we see a lot of people come through Wild Camp who have been moved from Montebelo having complained. Often a result of it being situated on the primary route into the park, so whenever there are road repairs/road building/grading (quite often given the amount of flooding), there's a constant stream of plant next to the hotel. Bear in mind also that all game drives from Montebelo are shared with other guests, which can be a double-edged sword, especially during peak season. In terms of value for money, Wild Camp is head and shoulders above both Montebelo and Muzimu.

 

Sorry @michael-ibk to clog up the thread - very much enjoying the report, and looking forward immensely to my three visits next year.

[michael-ibk]

Thanks @Atravelynnand @Peter Connan! And special thanks to you, Tom, all great posts, and really no need to apologise at all, quite the contrary!

On 1/19/2024 at 3:29 PM, ice said:

I hope you don't mind me asking these questions in your thread)

 

Not at all, @Pictus Safaris's answers to you questions will be very helpful for anybody considering visiting Gorongosa.

[michael-ibk]

Just before we left for our afternoon drive I looked for Green Malkoha in camp, not a bird you see every day.

 

 

Success!

 

 

And a Cordon Bleu, common, but always nice.

 

Unfortunately the light was really awful this afternoon. We saw all the usual suspects and had a good time but rarely felt tempted to snatch pictures under these conditions. Always a risk when the weather is building for the rains so late in the season.

 

 

But I can never resist a Nyala Bull. Never having been to a park where they are really common they still are quite special to me.

 

 

 

 

A very patient and bold Striped Kingfisher, very close to the car. Did not even fly when Richard started the motor again.

 

 

Not very close but my favourite bird so I always have to take a photo.

[michael-ibk]

A bit later we saw a very distant Elephant herd. Exciting, we had not seen any in the park except a few crossing the river when flying in. We were trying to catch up with them, not too easy in the dense woodland. And as we all know Elephants can easily become invisible when they want to. And here they very much want to  - these Elephants really are not very fond of humas. We had already resigned to the fact that we had lost them when we could hear some trumpeting. Richard and Doug chose a spot where they hoped thew would come out again - and voilà! (Apologies for the quality of the photos, I really need better gear for low light.)

 

 

Richard told us there are about 800 Elephants in the park. The latest count is a bit lower (about 620), but that's the actual number they have seen, not a population estimate.

 

 

 

At first the herd did not notice us but once they became aware of us they were very tense.

 

 

It was interesting watching them. While they obviously did not appreciate having us around they were not really agressive. A few half-hearted mock charges by two or three animals but nothing serious.

 

 

They have good reason to be unhappy about man. Many were slaughtered in the Civil War, the population crashed from 4000 to 200 and the survivors surely have not forgotten. A good number of them will be old enough to remember, especially the matriarchs. More on the subject here.

 

 

So Gorongosa's Elephants are a bit infamous for charging vehicles. This is (as already mentioned) the reason self-driving is not allowed. And the guide are careful around them. Some roads are avoided, especially the river road (leading through very dense forest with few possibilities to turn around or reverse) in the afternoon. This is the time when the Elephants leave the park to cross over to the farmlands for raiding crops.

 

 

But Richard said they are definitely becoming more relaxed. With each year they are experiencing more and more tourists and see that nobody tries to harm them. So there's hope they will be at peace with us again.

 

 

It's often said that a lot of tuskless Elephants have been born in Gorongosa ("adaptive selection against poaching") but we could not really see this in this group.

 

 

We spent almost half an hour with them. Very enjoyable, and very interesting behaviour. We did not see Elephants again (although we heard them a couple of times). Richard told us that with the first rains a lot of them have left the core game viewing areas.

 

 

 

Night Drives in Gorongosa are always productive. We saw a lot of Genets every single night especially.

 

 

This evening we found more than 5 Elephant Shrew. Unfortunately this one absolutely refused to turn around.

 

 

Civets were also regulars. Pretty sure we saw them every evening. White-Tailed Mongoose also pretty common. We also found a Lioness with cubs close to camp, but they were moving too quickly to get a photo and quickly hid in the forest again.

Edited January 23 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

Early next morning we soon found two young male lions not far from camp. (Yes, two, but they both were apparently fond of their personal space.) Did not look like they were up to anything exciting, so we did not stay.

 

 

Some birds on the plains:

 

 

Wattled Lapwing

 

 

Red-Crested Lark - one of the very few Lark species to have at least a somewhat distinctive look.

 

 

More Lions a bit North of Lion House - a mother with her offspring, 2 boys and one girl.

 

 

All a bit scruffy and appeared to be hungry.

 

 

The young lady started to creep up to a Warthog. She did not do a bad job.

 

 

But then Mum spoilt all her efforts and paraded right in front of the Warthog, giving her away.

 

 

"Was that really necessary? Thanks for nothing! YOU are supposed to teach me, not spoil my efforts!"

 

 

But she did not give up, left her position, did a sneaky circle and managed to get into a fairly good position again.

 

 

The Warthog finally became alert but at first did not quite seem to realize what was going on. And nonchalantly passed by.

 

 

Perfect opportunity! Now there will be blood! Guts! Gore!

 

Not really sadly (although not for the Warthog), it seemed the young Lion got cold feet.

 

 

Only after the the Warthog had long passed the sweet spot to attack she finally thought it would be a good idea to actually get up and run after it.

 

 

But far, far too late and too half-hearted, she did not even get close. Oh well, maybe next time.

 

The temperature was still cool, so there was a good chance they could try something again. But we had places to go, so decided to leave.

 

Edited January 23 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

So why the hurry? We had a really long day before us, because we wanted to get up far North, way beyond Gorongosa's regular game viewing circuit. Partly because we like to explore, and partly because an extraordingary sighting had been reported just a few days before. A Leopardess hanging around with Lions and even presenting to them!

 

More about that here!

 

Of course a needle in a haystack, and our quest was not to be successful. Not that we had really expected it to be - but of course one always hopes. So all we could do was talk about it. Ok, numbers of Leopards in Gorongosa are very low. So maybe Lady Leopard approached the Lions because she could not find a male? Maybe, but Doug made a good point. That only explains her side of the story. But why would the Lions be tolerating her? No shortage of them in the park. The normal reaction would be to just kill her. Lions and Leopards really don't like each other. So one can only theorise about the background of this unusual encounter.

 

It is a bit of a mystery why there are not more Leopards in the park. The habitat is absolutely perfect for them, and there's plenty of prey. Some articles state there used to be a good number of them but that they crashed because of hunting and the loss of their prey base during the war. Still, seems odd how well Lions have recovered (without introductions), apparently about 200 of them now. And not Leopards who are supposed to be the most resilient cat. I think 4 Leopards were introduced to the park by park management. Oddly, one male wandered off. Richard thinks there are more Leopards in the park than most sources say but they are very, very shy. He has had a number of sigthings in his years in the park, and semi-regularly discovers tracks.

 

But on with our exploration, boldy going where no one has gone before! Well, almost.

 

 

White-headed Vultures are doing well in Gorongosa. Normally the rarest Vulture but we saw them regulary.

 

 

After we left the plains we drove through a long stretch of grassland. Reedbuck and Oribi were plenty here, and of course Waterbuck are everywhere in Gorongosa. But as we had left the main circuit it was very obvious animals are not used to cars here, and so most animals were running when they saw us. Looked like good Serval country, and Richard confirmed they can be found here. No Caracal, at least he has never seen one.

 

 

The road was really bad. Very, very bumpy. This section of the park is often flooded, and it does not seem like much work is done to keep this road in a better state. We did not see anything of note in this section. But got a huge adrenaline rush when we finally left the grasslands and entered forest. Big Snake on the road!

 

 

Black Mamba, one of the most feared animals all over Africa. Has a reputation of being aggessive, but experts say only when they feel cornered and that bites are rare. Well, I'm happy we did not make it feel cornered!

 

 

Very cool sighting, I've had one or two short glimpses over the years but this was my first photographable encounter.

 

 

The only black part of this Mamba is the inside of its mouth which it displays when feeling threatened. Thank you, no need to see your Black, just move on buddy.

 

 

Coffee at what reminded me a bit of Zakouma.

 

 

Palm-Swift.

 

 

Yellow-billed Kite.

 

 

We were particularly pleased to see a few Carmine Bee-Eaters, simply a great bird.

 

 

After a while the landscape changed into broken woodland, more reminiscent of the Musekese area of Kafue.

 

 

Lots of Kudu, Bushbuck and Nyala here, but none of them fancied hanging with us. Also saw our first Hartebeest (running off). The only somewhat bold animal here is Baboon, but as usual we did not take photos of them.

 

 

This was the area where the Lion / Leopard scene had occurred. We scanned a lot but could not find any trace of Big Cats.

 

 

Well, always some pretty birds to look at - European Bee-Eater.

 

 

A beautiful area to drive through, but unfortunately also quite popular with Safari nuisance Nr. One - Tsetse fly!

 

Edited January 23 by michael-ibk

[Atravelynn]

What an odd occurrence with the lion and leopard.  Wishing for peaceful days ahead for the elephants in Gorongosa.

[Peter Connan]

That fever-tree-dotted forest you found the ellies in is really beautiful!

Lovely sighting of the Mamba.

Really interesting story about the leopard and the lions. Regarding the leopard numbers, I have a suspicion that leopards also become very shy in areas where humans are either scarce or dangerous to them. As a boy on my grandfather's farm (which, like most of the others around it was typically only inhabited for about one month per year) we used to see leopard tracks quite frequently, but the leopard itself almost never. In later years when the area was visited more often, we started seeing more leopard but roughly the same number of tracks.

[madaboutcheetah]

Really interesting park, @michael-ibkand thanks for sharing all the awesome images .......  I'm surprised that they have the Green Malkhova in Mozambique - as, they are fairly widespread here in Southern India. 

[michael-ibk]

Thanks  @Atravelynn, @Peter Connanand @madaboutcheetah!

 

On 1/24/2024 at 4:49 AM, Atravelynn said:

Wishing for peaceful days ahead for the elephants in Gorongosa.

 

So say we all!

 

14 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

Regarding the leopard numbers, I have a suspicion that leopards also become very shy in areas where humans are either scarce or dangerous to them.

 

Sounds very plausible Peter. Doug and Richard were sure there must be more of them in the park than is generally believed.

 

13 hours ago, madaboutcheetah said:

I'm surprised that they have the Green Malkhova in Mozambique - as, they are fairly widespread here in Southern India. 

 

A different species Hari - I assume you mean Green-Billed Malkoha?

[michael-ibk]

It was past noon when we finally reached the Vunduzi river, far in the North of the park.

 

 

A bit nonsensical that park staff did all that work to help cross the river - the road ends just 50 metres on the other side!

 

We were really far away from the gameviewing circuit up here.

 

 

 

It was very, very hot - Doug and me both took a super refreshing bath in the river. Pretty much fully clothed. Dry again in less than 15 minutes. Richard and Lucky prepared a delicious lunch for us. A great spot to rest, nice view and at least it was a bit cooler by the water.

 

We were very surprised when all of a sudden three men showed up on the other side. What was anybody doing here? Simple answer: There is a park ranger's post very close nearby, and they simply wanted to take a dip into the river.

 

 

 

Brai master Richard. I really cannot overpraise him by the way - one of the very best guides we ever had. Richard is from Zimbabwe and has worked all over Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, you name it. Very experienced guide. He saw Gorongosa as a new challenge, and has been here for a few years now. Absolutely fantastic birder too, knows everything by song/call. We really had had no idea what level of guiding to expect here in Mozambique (a big reason why we wanted Doug along as a private guide). But if the general level of guiding is only half of Richard's level it's excellent.

 

At about 12:30 we decided to start our long journey back. Still hoped to find that Lioncrazy Leopard (we did not), and it was a long way back in any case. Shortly after we left the river we found an old Sable bull.

 

 

Not a good poser but always exciting to see this magnificent antelope.

 

 

Sable don't seem to do to well these days in the park, their numbers are constantly declining. Just 240 were counted in 2022 as opposed to 757 back in 2014. And we did not see any apart from up here in the North. Worth mentioning though that they are not really around in the main game viewing area. The West, East and North provide more suitable habitats for them. We had planned to spend some time specifically looking for them but even with seven nights in Gorongosa we ultimately did not find the time to do that!

 

 

A nice Baobab area. Not far from here we saw a leucistic Waterbuck, very cool-looking animal (a bit like a Unicorn) but unfortunately could not get a photo.

 

 

A lovely stretch of the river. Unfortunately it was right here that the day stopped being fun for me. Some readers might remember that I'm in a (mostly losing) battle against my own back. And this day simply had been a bit too much, my right leg stopped to do what I wanted it to do. I was hobbling for the next two or three days, and generally needed a lot of painkillers. So I was trying to lay flat in the vehicle on the way back. Still had to sit up for a few things.

 

 

A few Sable were galloping across the road but already pretty far away when I got up.

 

 

Finally a posing Kudu!

 

 

Green-backed Woodpecker, not a species you see every day.

 

 

One of the dry riverbeds. Very soon now all these would become absolutely unpassable after the rains.

 

 

Crowned Hornbill

 

 

Our first Wildebeest. I was not unhappy when we finally arrived in camp about 18:30 or so.

 

Today, as I've mostly forgotten the pain I was in I remember this as a very good day. Not the most exciting sightings given that animals were so shy but we definitely enjoyed the feeling of being really far, far away from everything and in the middle of the beautiful wilderness of Gorongosa.

Edited January 25 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

I had no desire to get back into a car next morning so we agreed on a late breakfast (at 05:30 ) and a walk around camp, depending how far I could hobble. Fortunately I found that walking was actually good for me (it usually is), and after some very flat light the weather became quite nice.

 

 

We did not see any mammals apart from the usual Waterbuck, Impala and Baboon but were entertained enough by birds and lots of other little things.

 

 

Red-throated Twinspot

 

 

 

Cordon-bleu

 

 

 

 

 

Pale Batis

 

 

 

 

Narina Trogon. Great bird to see but really wish it could have turned around for me.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

After a second breakfast (feel free to call us Hobbits) we decided to do at least a short and slow drive.

 

 

 

This Dragonfly seemed to really like our antenna.

 

 

This dagga boy did not seem to like anything or anybody.

 

 

Two young Lions. It was already quite hot now so they were of course doing what they mostly do - nothing!

 

 

"I'm not doing nothing, I'm just building up energy!"

 

 

We had coffee at "Paradise" and spent our time with the waterbirds there.

 

 

I may be the only person on Safaritalk quite enjoying seeing Marabou - they were the very first animal I saw in Africa!

 

 

 

This runlet was a refuge for an amazing number of fish, and of course Herons, Storks and Hamerkops were taking advantage of that.

 

 

A slightly more attractive Stork.

 

[michael-ibk]

The birds were caring less and less about us sitting with them. A lovely experience, it's always magical when animals stop being afraid and you can watch them almost as being part of them. And the scene became even more enjoyable when a flock of Pelicans came in.

 

 

 

 

A very cool spectacle. Not for the fish though - certainly a massacre going on from their point of view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not the worst location to spend an hour or two.

 

 

In the afternoon: Dog time again!

Edited January 25 by michael-ibk

[TonyQ]

Some great sightings @michael-ibk. Sorry to hear about your back pain causing problems here. But we can see your determination in action.

[Atravelynn]

"The birds were caring less and less about us sitting with them. A lovely experience, it's always magical when animals stop being afraid and you can watch them almost as being part of them."  

Don't know that I would boast about becoming one with the marabous.

 

And the scene became even more enjoyable when a flock of Pelicans came in.

These less odious companions have redeemed you in relation to the company you keep.

 

Fabulous closeups shots and videos of the feeding and flapping!

 

Especially liked that vivid green little grasshopper and the green-backed woodpecker.

 

I am so sorry about your back and can personally relate (at least somewhat) to the pain you experienced.  Glad you have the painkillers and I hope you were not inconvenienced or worse throughout the trip.

Edited January 25 by Atravelynn

[Peter Connan]

I think I could spend all day at "paradise"!

That old Dagga boy really does embody the essence of Buffalo, doesn't it!

Thanks for dragging me to Gorongosa Michael, and so sorry to hear about your back. I am sure my wife would empathize. We recently had some X-rays done and discovered that she has some "fractured" screws in one of her fractured joints.

[Kitsafari]

1 hour ago, Peter Connan said:

I think I could spend all day at "paradise"!

Me too! and hopefully the african fish eagle added its iconic calls at the paradise. 

 

1 hour ago, Peter Connan said:

I am sure my wife would empathize. We recently had some X-rays done and discovered that she has some "fractured" screws in one of her fractured joints.

 

@Peter Connan oh dear that sounds pretty painful

 

@michael-ibk hope your back improved significantly after that day. 

 

How bad were the dreadful tse-tses? you know how much they love me (and poor @AndMic). 

[michael-ibk]

Thanks @Atravelynn, @Peter Connanand @Kitsafari!

 

16 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

Don't know that I would boast about becoming one with the marabous.

 

Got me there Lynn!

 

8 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

I am sure my wife would empathize. We recently had some X-rays done and discovered that she has some "fractured" screws in one of her fractured joints.

 

I am sorry to hear that Peter, all the best for your wife!

 

6 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

How bad were the dreadful tse-tses?

 

A minor nuisance I would say, not too drastic. But @AndMicmight remember that quite differently...

[michael-ibk]

 

The weather was lovely in the afternoon, a welcome change. Early on we had a very exciting sighting - a Large Grey Mongoose. A really huge animal which I might or might not have seen in Kwara many years ago. No doubt about the ID this time but it was just running over the road in the middle of the forest totally unexpected, so no photo unfortunately! Mongoose in general are super shy in Gorongosa. Banded, Slender, Dwarf, saw all the classics but could never get a shot.

 

We found two cool raptors, first a Lizard Buzzard ...

 

 

... and then a Fasciated (or Southern Banded) Snake-Eagle, a lifer for me!

 

 

 

Grey Go-Away-Birds

 

 

But this was supposed to be a Dog afternoon, and it was. Richard soon found them.

 

 

They had fed well today so most of them were not very active almost until it got dark. But always one or two doing something to keep us entertained.

 

 

Looking like me after the Festive season!

 

 

 

We were annoyed when another car with tourists came in. We had been so spoilt with our "private park" so far that even one car felt like an intrusion. But they did not stay long, most safari guests don't care much for the Dogs. Or "Hyena", as most people take them for.

 

 

Nothing super exciting happened, the Dogs were all just too happy with their feast from this morning.

 

 

But no problem, we love simply sitting with the Dogs, it was a very enjoyable afternoon.

 

 

Their constant companion.

 

 

Not much else to say about the afternoon so just a few more photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We would meet the next day again, and then they were hungry - there will be blood!

 

Edited January 26 by michael-ibk

[BRACQUENE]

Brilliant wild dogs Michael ; the one with the open mouth is stunning : thanks for this great TR that shows us the wildness and beauty of Gorongosa NP ! 

[TonyQ]

Great photos again. I like all of them, but particularly the wider shot of a solo dog with grass and trees. I wouldn’t have thought to take that but it works really well.

Interesting that people don’t stay to watch dogs 

[Kitsafari]

Yay yay for the doggies! 

[John M.]

9 hours ago, TonyQ said:

Great photos again. I like all of them, but particularly the wider shot of a solo dog with grass and trees. I wouldn’t have thought to take that but it works really well.

Interesting that people don’t stay to watch dogs 

   I especially like the dog-in-landscape too. I'm a sucker for that kind of image.

   As for spending time with dogs, some of our most interesting and entertaining times were watching dogs at their dens... the hunters returning to feed the pups and babysitters; the pups playing and pestering the adults; a lone hooded vulture wandering among the pups and picking up scraps (or droppings?); and so on. 

   None of the wildlife was boring or a turn-off for us. Love the variety in your TR @michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

Thanks @BRACQUENE, @TonyQ, @Kitsafariand @John M..

 

On 1/26/2024 at 6:16 PM, TonyQ said:

Interesting that people don’t stay to watch dogs 

 

I guess this is more of a thing in parks with many first-timers and not so much with more experienced safari fans. People who are not very much into animals (like most of us here are) generally don't care much about the Dogs in my experience. Whenever I show photos from our trips to friends most of them will ask "Is that a Hyena?". Hyenas are even less popular than Dogs apparently.