Recapturing the pioneering feel of travel in Mozambique

Mozambique in south-east Africa offers sandy beaches, diving and big-game fishing In mass tourist terms, Mozambique is a miracle waiting to happen. The coastline stretches from the island of Pemba, near the Tanzanian border, to Maputo, the capital, near the South African one. For 2,470 kilometres , the Indian Ocean laps at sandy beaches overlooked by stupendous dunes. Offshore archipelagos offer romantic hideaways, coral dive sites and bases for big-game fishing. Fleets provide fresh catches for dinners under tropical stars. The interior is bush - mountainous in some parts, expansive grasslands in others - great for viewing game and hiking.
The good news is that the government of Mozambique doesn't really care if anyone shows up or not. But why would it, when it can export natural gas to South Africa and coal to Brazil? It's already sold extensive fishing rights to Chinese entrepreneurs and allowed them to import their own workforce. Most rural residents survive precariously on subsistence agriculture. The government certainly has the means to improve the imbalance, but its sense of urgency on this front hovers around zero.
As yet, visitors from abroad are divided between elite tourists who charter private planes to transfer from island lodges to remote game reserves and budget travellers who use crowded buses and take things as they come. They'll find semi-permanent camps with walk-in tents, simple lodges with rondevals (circular huts) and hostels on beaches they never want to leave.
The bonus? Neither group has to share with package tourists, creating a pioneering feeling that is increasingly rare in the world's beauty spots. Falling somewhere between the two categories, I started my voyage of exploration with a road journey from the airport at Beira, an industrial town on the coast, to Gorongosa National Park, the ultimate game reserve in the Portuguese colonial era.
After three hours, I stopped briefly at Chitengo, a lodge with cabanas, camping and a pleasantly airy restaurant at the main entrance. Another 20 minutes brought me to Explore Gorongosa, the only place to stay inside the park. It is owned, furnished and run - to very high standards - by Rob and Jos Janish, a young couple from Zimbabwe who are expecting their first child, who will have a dramatic start to life in the wilderness.
Their luxury camp has six double tents spaced well apart on the banks of a river full of crocodiles. In line with contemporary high-end bush lore, it is unfenced, with outdoor showers and toilets, but the walk-in tents are insect-proof, the beds have mosquito nets and men with torches make sure you reach your door unscathed after dark. Over lunch, I met the only other guests, a British couple on their honeymoon. A brief chat revealed that the bride is a relation of my cousin's fiancé. African bush telegraph? You better believe it.
In the relative cool of the evening, we set out in the Land Cruiser with Andy Smith, our Zimbabwean guide, to check the game. With a greater density of animals than the Serengeti plains, this southernmost extension of the Great Rift Valley was targeted by Hollywood trophy hunters, notably Gregory Peck and John Wayne, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Such frivolities ended abruptly after independence in 1975, when Moscow-backed Frelimo and Renamo political movements, supported by white minorities in Zimbabwe and South Africa, went head-to-head in a bitter civil war that lasted until 1992. Inevitably, a rural population deprived of a livelihood slaughtered animals, both for food and saleable goods, with ivory high on the hit list.After years of devastation, Gorongosa's rebirth began in 2004 when Greg Carr, a tech billionaire from Idaho, targeted the park for restoration. Using funds from the non-profit foundation he started in 1999, he devised a scheme to give the locals a sustainable lifestyle that doesn't include killing animals. Carr's pledge of US$45 million (Dh165m) over 30 years is already funding anti-poaching forces, infrastructure projects, animal head counts and a permanent biological research centre.Re-stocking is key, and there is progress on many fronts. There are now 300 elephants (their gene pool enriched by six bulls imported from the Kruger), 400 buffaloes and approximately 4,000 hippos. On an early morning walk, we saw sable, impalas, kudu, herons, pelicans, eagles, giant lizards and crocs, while a night drive revealed the striking spots of civet cats. Zebras are expected shortly.