Gorongosa National Park 2nd-5th May

Gorongosa 2nd-5th May
We arrived at Gorongosa National Park after 2 long days of driving on very potholed roads. The last stretch to the border post was a better road and because we were driving at night, not as many tucks. We arrived at the border post at 4h00 and tried to get a little bit of a sleep before the border post opens at 6h00. About half an hour later Grant had crashed and Aimee and I heard scuffling on the roof. We thought it was monkeys and when I switched the lights on to go and check it out, the noise stopped. In the morning we found out that it had been someone on the roof who had cut our straps and was obviously trying to take the surfboards. We were all very glad to get away from the cities and border posts, as at the previous days stop our ladder had been stolen off the truck.

Potholes on En1 on the way to Gorongosa

 The first stretch of road once we turned off into the park is a dirt road with lots of ribs and bumps but once you reach the park gate it smooths out. You drive through beautiful tropical forest, palms and grasslands.

Entrance to Gorongosa National Park

We are staying at Chitengo Camp which has beautiful trees in the campsite with electricity and a free wi-fi connection. It has a swimming pool and restaurant. We are going to base ourselves here for a couple of days before we start the long trip up to Pemba.

Gorongosa Pool and Restaurant

Last night we had a lovely braai with wood that they provided, huge logs for a bonfire.

Bryce carving and Mitch reading jokes from his joke book

Grant & Aimee at bonfire

This afternoon at 15h00, we are going on an organised game drive to look at the rest of the park. Gorongosa is a game reserve that is in a reconstruction phase. There is only one camp(Chitengo) and because of heavy rains, the perimeter roads are often not open. It has a variety of vegetation and animals which we hope to spot later. The truck will be too high to access some of the more overgrown places.

Family before Gorongosa game drive

We had an awesome game drive in the afternoon where we saw plenty of buck, birds and trees. We saw vervet monkeys, impala,bushbuck,kudu,nyala, warthog and plenty of waterbuck. We saw lots of baboons, which we also see at the campsite that go through the rubbish bins here. These are not Aimee's favourite animals.

Waterbuck

 Amazing bird life, we spotted Hamerkop and their huge nest they build for such a tiny bird, kingfisher, fish eagle, grey hornbills, plovers, crown headed crane and spur-winged goose.

Fish eagle

There are also the most beautiful yellow fever trees, leadwood,palms, chestnut. The game drive took us about 3 hours and as the sun goes down here so early, by 17h00, the last stretch was done in the dark which is quite different spotting the animals eyes in the headlights before seeing them.

Beautiful sunset at the waterhole

Classroom at Gorongosa

Today(Monday), it is a fairly overcast day with a little bit of drizzle. This is great for a change as the kids are doing some schoolwork etc.

Afer Aimee came tumbing out the overlander door, Grant has built a makeshift ladder for us to use.

Aimee's scrape

New ladder

Hand tennis in classroom



Mitch's post on warthogs:

Warthog 45 - 150kg

Fact 1:

Despite their fearsome appearance and sinister tusks, only big male warthogs are safe from lions,cheetahs and hyenas. To protect themselves when attacked,warthogs run for burrows and vack in while slashing wildly with their tusks.

Fact 2:

An animal of opwn savannahs and woodlands,they are common in suitable habitats over most of the Northern half of the region.

Height: 140-200cm

Weight: 45-75kg female and 60-150kg for male

Differences:

The male had two sets of tusks and the female has 1 set of tusks.

Bryce's post on fish eagles:

Fish Eagle

African names: Visarend ( Afrikaans), Unomakhwezana (Xhosa), Inkwazi (Zulu)

Identification:

Dark body and wings, white head, nape and breast. Short square, white tail. Dark fore-wings and belly. The female fish eagle is larger than the male.

Call:

It has an unmistakable ringing,'kyow-kyou-kow'.

Found:

Mainly in North, East and South on large water bodies.

Habitats:

Usually in pair. Hunts from a perch. Catches fish in its claws

Food:

Fish, eggs, small mammals, lizards, frogs and insects.

Aimee's post on Bush Buck:

This animal lives near forest edges and dense thickets found in the north, the east, and along an eastern coastal stip from Mozambique to the Cape. They are one of the most elegant antelopes with rounded hindquarters slightly higher than the shoulders. The colour of the coat varies greatly from yellowish chestnut through to reddish brown to dark brown. The head is lighter in colour with a dark band.

They usually live in pairs but occasionally in small family groups. They are very secretive and hide away. They will also associate with troops of baboons and monkeys feeding on fallen fruit shaken from the trees. When they become alarmed by the approch of a predator, their usual response is to freeze and hope that they get overlooked.