Some news about Gorongosa in Moz:
http://www.tourismupdate.co.za/NewsDetails.aspx?newsId=22241
Matt I know you are involved with Gorongosa. Sounds like they are opening up bidding for lodges and camps now, to operators. If I had several million lying around, I might be tempted to open up a camp there!

That development plan is, in my - and other people view - totally ill conceived.

It will either ruin and destroy Gorongosa as a destination (bearing in mind that its main attractions are not, at least now, the huge herds, but rather its remoteness and wilderness) or will prove to be a failure.

If one wants to have a crowded experience, he/she should rather go to the Mara instead: at least there are thousands of animals everywhere and cats arounf many corners.

Can uyou imagine the traffic jams around the (relatively) few lGorongosa lions?

The kind of tourism to which the "hundred beds lodges" are aimed, are normally after the Big 5, not the Pel's fishing Owls or African Skimmer or Sable or Oribi - and thus (environmental and esthetics arguments aside) the operators will struggle to fill such a massive capacity. If this plan go ahead, many will not see a return for their investment.

We will see the actual interest it will raise among potential bidders.

On a different note, I feel very lucky and privileged to visit Gorongosa in a month time, prior to any such development taking place.....


By the way, the article is wrong because a private venture already operates - with good results -in the Park: Explore Gorongosa, with a seasonal tented camp and the possibility of fly camping. Certainly, a few other eco-friendly oprators like Explore Gorongosa, with small mobilecamps (or, in any event, without permanent structures) wouldmake a lot of good to Gorongosa, buth those lodges..... They really must be crazy.

I hear you Paolo, but I think tourism has been the saving grace of many game reserves in Africa, which would otherwise have been plundered. In South Africa, many new game reserves have developed out of consolidated farm land, because safari tourism earns better than farming, presumably. Whatever the reason, it has strengthened our populations of rhino, cheetah, wild dog, lion and other threatened species. In the case of Gorongosa, it was once a wildlife paradise, with huge numbers and diversity of animals. Years of neglect, war and poaching have taken its toll, and perhaps putting it back on the map as a mainstream safari destination with the investment of large operators will help it grow back to its former glory. I certainly expect and hope that big operators like Wilderness Safaris and AndBeyond will bid for concessions here, I think it can only be good for Gorongosa. Perhaps in 10 years time there will be more lodges, but also a lot more animals.