We stayed at Casa Oita, which is a self catering house at Pomene Ridge, which is part of Casa Ray Beach Lodge. Quite confusing sorry, took us awhile to figure out all these connections.
We arrived in the early hours of the morning after getting lost in what felt like the middle of a jungle (not a good idea driving from Komatipoort to Pomene in one day = 650km on Mozambique roads). As you leave the national tar road, there is a 60km 4 x 4 sand road to the lodge. We received clear directions from the owner which were even detailed to each km turn that had to be taken. We soon realised that the owner left out the last three crucial directions! Luckily we had a GPS and the owner gave us the way point co-ordinates. As there is no official roads to the lodge, we decided to take our Land Rover to the ultimate extreme by making our own road straight towards the co-ordinates. After arriving 4 hours late, we were welcomed by a very worried security guard and his torch.
The Room
December 2013: We stayed in Casa Oita (Chalet 8) at Pomene Ridge, which overlooks the Pomene Estuary and is in walking distance to the lagoon. This is the overcast view from the lounge window:
The “chalet” is more like a beautiful reed-walled, thatched-roof house.
It has 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, one very big lounge and a kitchen. The fridge and deep freeze run on solar energy, as the owner is BIG in to sustainable living. The house operates on 12 volt DC batteries and uses solar panels to charge the batteries. However, we still managed to sleep with a fan at night that we brought with – a must in December.
The room also comes with an amazing helper, Armando aka “The Butler”. He is everywhere, from opening all the windows in the morning, packing and unpacking your car and even preparing the daily fish and fire for your fish braai. This man always has the biggest smile and is always willing to help wherever he can.
There are also night watchmen who work throughout the night. He was super sweet, especially closer to our departure date (when the tip is due)! It is great though to support these locals and their families who live just around the corner.
Everyday some local ladies from the nearby village sell fresh fruit and bread at a very reasonable price. 10 Meticals will get you a small loaf of bread, fruit or vegetables.
Interested?
Check out their website: Casa Oita
Or more specifically: Pomene Ridge.
Or you can contact the owner “Pat” directly via patevans@global.co.za – funny enough we only found out upon arrival that Pat lives in Kommetjie which is down the road from where we live. She is so great !!
