Maputo National Park

{{Short description|Nature reserve in Mozambique}} {{Expand language|topic=|langcode=Zh|otherarticle=馬普托國家公園|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox park | name = Maputo National Park | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = | type = | location = Mozambique | coordinates =  | area = | created = 2021  | operator = | visitation_num = | status = }} '''Maputo National Park''' is a national park in Mozambique, located on Maputo Bay, approximately 100 kilometers southeast of the city of Maputo. With an area of 1,718 km2 (663 square miles), it is part of Matutuíne District of the Maputo Province, and also of the Inhaca Island of the city of Maputo.<ref name="Park">{{cite web |url=https://parquemaputo.gov.mz/en/the-park/about/ |title=About |publisher=Parque Nacional de Maputo |date= |accessdate=16 July 2025 |archive-date=24 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124173511/https://parquemaputo.gov.mz/en/the-park/about/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

==History== The park was created on 7 December 2021, by the merger of two pre-existing conservation areas: the Maputo Special Reserve (1,040 km2 (400 square miles)) and the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (678 km2 (262 square miles)).<ref name="Park" /> The Maputo Special Reserve (before 1969 known as Maputo Elephant Reserve) was originally proclaimed in 1932 as the Maputo Elephant Reserve to protect a small population of coastal elephants resident in the area.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-03-22|title=How an African wildlife reserve is recovering from ruin of civil war|url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2138345/african-wildlife-reserve-recovers-ruin-war-elephants|access-date=2020-12-08|website=South China Morning Post|language=en}}</ref> The park was devastated by the Mozambican Civil War, which decimated its animal population. In 2006, the government signed a memorandum of understanding with the South Africa-based conservation group Peace Parks Foundation to rehabilitate the park, resulting in the reintroduction of multiple species beginning in 2010.<ref name="unesco"/>

The Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve was established in 2009 to protect the coastal ecosystem of the southernmost region of Mozambique.<ref name="Ponta">{{cite web |access-date=21 July 2025 |date=2017 |publisher=ANAC, Administração Nacional das Áreas de Conservação |title=Partial Marine Reserve of Ponta do Ouro |url=https://www.anac.gov.mz/en/parques/ponta-do-ouro/ |archive-date=29 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029122000/https://www.anac.gov.mz/en/parques/ponta-do-ouro/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

==Ecology== The park combines lakes, wetlands, swamp forests, grasslands and mangrove forests with a coastline that lies within the Maputaland Centre of Endemism.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Maputo Special Reserve|url=https://www.peaceparks.org/parks/maputo-special-reserve/|access-date=2020-12-24|website=Peace Parks Foundation|language=en-ZA}}</ref> ===Fauna=== The park contains 5,000 individual animals from 16 mammal species, including kudu, impala, eland, giraffe, buffalo, wildebeest and zebra. In 2023 and 2024, spotted hyenas were introduced to the park as part of a translocation program from Sabie Game Park in South Africa. The park's resident population of 400 African elephants has also been augmented by the transmigration of herds from Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa since 2014, following the reopening of the Mozambique–South Africa border.<ref name="unesco"/> In its coastal area a variety of marine species, such as dolphins, whales, sharks (including the whale shark), rays, coral fish and sea turtles, can be found.<ref name="Ponta" />

==Management== The park is an element of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which includes national parks from South Africa, Mozambique and Eswatini.<ref name="Park" />

In 2018 the transfrontier conservation group Peace Parks Foundation signed a partnership agreement with the Mozambique government to support the management and development of the Maputo Special Reserve and adjacent Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve. This comprised US$16 million donated by a number of donors, including the Reinet Foundation, Wyss Foundation and World Bank funded MozBio programme.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mozambique govt, Peace Parks to co-develop two reserves|url=https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/international/mozambique-govt-peace-parks-to-co-develop-two-reserves-15377902|access-date=2020-12-08|website=IOL|language=en}}</ref>

Eco-tourism infrastructure in the reserve consists of the Anvil Bay resort, which opened in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-03-22|title=How an African wildlife reserve is recovering from ruin of civil war|url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2138345/african-wildlife-reserve-recovers-ruin-war-elephants|access-date=2020-12-08|website=South China Morning Post|language=en}}</ref>

In 2025, the site was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as part of an expansion from the ISimangaliso Wetland Park in neighbouring South Africa.<ref name="unesco">{{Cite news |date=2025-07-15 |title=Maputo National Park in Mozambique has been named a World Heritage site |url=https://macaonews.org/news/lusofonia/maputo-national-park-mozambique-un-world-heritage/ |access-date=2025-07-16 |work=The Macao News |language=en-GB }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Protected areas of Mozambique Category:Elephant conservation Category:Geography of Maputo Category:Important Bird Areas of Mozambique