Mike's Moz Blog: Whale watching

An eco lodge, Dunes de Dovela, was running a whale watching weekend and this was something we had been wanting to do for a while. The lodge is in an isolated spot and is only accessible by a four by four vehicle. It is about six hours drive from Maputo situated at the end of a 12.5 km track off the main road. Even though we were staying in a tent rather than a chalet it was not cheap but we had heard good reports from a couple of people. We were not disappointed.

The eco lodge which has been built as a community project was largely the inspiration of one of the owners, a charming frenchman called Thomas. He is helped by a french woman Alexandra who was a brilliant cook as well as a lovely host. We were staying full board and the food was fantastic. The drive down the track to get to lodge was along a deeply rutted and sandy track with some sizable hills and was I think the most difficult road I have driven on. There was no way you could do it without a four wheel drive. Visitors without one can leave their car in a secure car park near the main road and be collected by the lodge.

The Lodge was situated high up in the sand dunes with a wonderful view over the ocean. As soon as we got to the lodge enjoying our welcome drink on the bar varandah we saw whales off in the distance breaching in the water. Our tent was a cosy little thing with a proper bed rather than a camp bed pitched on a wooden platform with seating with a view of the ocean. There was quite a steep set of stairs and a bit of a walk to get to the beach but the walk was worth it. The white sandy beach was practically deserted and the huge dunes provided an unusual backdrop. We didn't have a huge amount of laying on the beach because a lot of the time the weather was quite windy and damp but got some nice walks.

The whale watching trip, arranged with one of the local dive operators was fabulous. A lady, Yara Tibirica, from the Association of Coastal Conservation of Mozambique gave a talk about humpback whales before we went out on the boat. She came to the lodge in the evening to give a much more detailed presentation about the humpback whales and the work of her association. Out on the boast we saw plenty of hump back whales and dolphins with one of the whales coming really close to the boat. They come to the coast of Mozambique to breed and raise their young and are fascinating creatures.

The next day we went on a walk with one of the guys from the lodge to the nearby lagoon, Lagoa Dongane. We needed to do something to exercise after all the three course lunches and dinners we had been having. On our last evening we had a very nice dinner and chat afterwards with our hosts and the French Ambassador and his partner who were staying at the lodge.