Montebelo Gorongosa Lodge & Safari

We booked by email our stay at this lodge, the safaris and the transfer from / to Beira. We chose the half board option and, being a couple, we booked a Garden room (note that the cost of any type of room is a bit higher on weekends, because the park is mainly frequented by local people who preferably go here on weekends). When we landed in Beira we found a person waiting for us and the transfer to the lodge was made with a pick up and lasted four hours because the roads, in the second half of the route, are literally dotted with large holes as if they had been bombed. After a very quick registration at the park entrance, we arrived at the lodge. Welcomed in a kind way, we were accompanied to the room in which there were a double bed with mosquito net, air conditioning and a private bathroom with shower. The room was clean and the electricity is on 24 hours a day. In the lodge there is a large swimming pool while the greenery is very well kept with warthogs and monkeys (baboons and vervets) that often move around undisturbed. Next to the lodge there is a landing strip for small planes and not far away a campsite where you can arrive with your own car and stay. For safaris, however, it is not possible to use the car (even if it is a 4WD) but you have to rely on an office manned from 6 AM until the evening after sunset. At a cost of 40/45 US $ per person for each safari it is possible to book safaris conducted on open land cruisers equipped with 9 seats in addition to the guide who is also the driver. Each safari lasts approximately 3 hours and the cars depart at 6 AM (morning safari), 10 AM (midday safari) and 3 PM (afternoon safari) in September. There is the option of a full day safari, including lunch, but for a minimum of 4 people. To increase the chance to see wild dogs, we decided to do all three safaris for each day we stayed at the lodge. Being the only tourists we had the car all to ourselves while the guide, Machina, was very professional and, being a native of the area, had an excellent knowledge of the animals and the park. Each safari includes a stop of about 15 minutes for a snack with coffee and drinks. As the park is completely flooded during the rainy season (the resort generally closes from November to February) the tracks have been built only in the southern part of the park and go from the lodge to Lake Urema and its sides covering only 15 % of the 4000 sq km of this national park. This means that some species of animals, although present, are very difficult to see. Normally the safari goes through the area with the dense forest (preferred by elephants) and the open areas next to the lake where the herbivores and water birds are numerous and it is not difficult to see lions, hippos and crocodiles. Being interested in wild dogs, we asked the guide to go through the areas most frequented by these animals and finally managed to see them. Half board included breakfast (which we had on the return of the morning safari) while for di