Maputo Special Reserve

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Maputo Special Reserve

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Maputo Special Reserve: Where Elephants Learn To Trust Humans Again

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Travelling from the KwaZulu-Natal border, past the raucous Ponta do Ouro popular with the brandy-and-coke brigade, you'll find a reserve that's still incredibly wild - just like its elephants.

Unlike the more polished and relaxed animals of big parks like Kruger National Park, Maputo Special Reserve - managed by the Peace Parks Foundation - is a place where the animals that have survived decades of war and poaching are still trying to learn to trust humans again. At the moment only 4x4s or high-rise vehicles can traverse the conservation area's bumpy dirt roads - some of the roads hasn't seen a car in ages.

While this accessibility might dissuade certain adventurers, its expansive natural beauty gives you such a variety of scenic landscapes you might feel like you're travelling through all the African biomes. It boasts a massive lake system, coastal dunes, mangrove and swamp forests, grasslands and stretches of pristine coastline provide visitors with a complete bush to beach experience.


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Re: Maputo Special Reserve

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Running for their lives: Speed cats return to southern Mozambique after six decades

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By Tony Carnie -12. Oct. 2021

Four of the fastest hunting cats in the world have been let loose in the southern corner of Mozambique — it’s the first time that cheetahs have been seen here in nearly 60 years.
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Two cheetah males and two females sourced from private reserves in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape have been moved to the 104,000ha Maputo Special Reserve, about 60km north of the KwaZulu-Natal border and the Mozambican coastal resort of Ponta do Ouro.

Formerly known as the Maputo Elephant Reserve, this sprawling area of open grassland, swamps and coastal lakes is also home to a large herd of elephant which has grown considerably after a small remnant herd survived poaching and hunting onslaughts during Mozambique’s civil war.

Now jointly managed by the National Administration of Conservation Areas (Anac) of Mozambique and the Peace Parks Foundation, the reserve has an estimated population of about 15,000 animals, mostly antelope species.

Apart from gradually restoring natural predation of the growing herbivore population, the arrival of the four cheetahs from South Africa also provides a new dose of hope for a vulnerable predator species that has been eliminated from 90% of its former range in Africa.

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After a long trip from South Africa, two of the cheetahs feed on an antelope carcass in their new home in the Maputo Special Reserve in southern Mozambique. (Photo: Peace Parks Foundation)

Though cheetahs can sprint at more than 100km/h while hunting, these terrific bursts of speed have not saved them from shrinking to around 6,600 survivors in Africa. Most live in Namibia and Botswana, but the much smaller South African population has expanded considerably over the past decade due to a metapopulation and range expansion project managed by the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

This project nurtures several small cheetah populations, mostly in private game reserves, and then swaps them around on a regular basis to boost the shrunken gene pool.

Vincent van der Merwe, project coordinator of the Cheetah Range Expansion Project, says the Southern African metapopulation has more than doubled since 2011 — from 217 cheetahs in 48 protected areas, to 478 in 67 protected areas across South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi.

“The metapopulation in this network of protected areas constitutes the only growing wild cheetah population worldwide,” he said.

According to the Peace Parks Foundation, the cheetahs were shifted by plane and road to a new holding boma, where they will be kept for about three weeks of acclimatisation, before being released into the larger reserve.

The two males came from the &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, while an adult female and her sub-adult female cub came from the Waterval Private Game Reserve near Kimberley in the Northern Cape.

The cheetahs were donated by Ashia, a non-profit conservation organisation working to prevent the further decline of wild cheetah populations. It also covered the costs of the translocation, including transportation, vaccination and the fitting of tracking collars to monitor the big cats in their new environment.

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Two cheetahs make a dash from their holding boxes into the Maputo Special Reserve. Cheetahs have been clocked running at more than 100km/h in speed tests. (Photo: Peace Parks Foundation)

Mateus Mutemba, director-general of Anac, said in a statement, “The reintroduction of cheetah is yet another historic conservation milestone in Mozambique and the development of the reserve into a self-sustaining operation that generates revenue for the communities living in the area.”

With support from the World Bank’s Mozbio Programme, nearly 5,000 animals, including, buffalo, giraffe, impala, kudu, nyala, waterbuck, warthog, oribi, eland, blue wildebeest and zebra, have been translocated to the Maputo reserve over the past decade.

Total animal numbers are now estimated at between 15,000 and 17,000.

Peace Parks CEO Werner Myburgh said his foundation was proud to be playing a part in expanding the range of cheetahs as part of its overall work in stabilising ecosystems and reintroducing carnivores to ecologically restored landscapes.

“Not only is the rewilding programme in Maputo Special Reserve contributing to the reserve becoming a world-class wildlife and tourism destination, but restored ecosystems such as these are also critical carbon sinks to help contribute to mitigating climate change.” DM/OBP


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Re: Maputo Special Reserve

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^Q^ ^Q^ ^Q^


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Re: Maputo Special Reserve

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Luckily there are people around who DO something O**


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Re: Maputo Special Reserve

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Great news ^Q^
I should definitely go there. I have never been even when I was living in Maputo :o0ps:


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Re: Maputo Special Reserve

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Dinding 0/* How's life "over there"?


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Re: Maputo Special Reserve

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Rewilding Africa: Return of the cheetah (Part 1)

20 ott 2021


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Go on a cross-border journey with four cheetahs!

Earlier this month we celebrated as four cheetahs were translocated from South Africa to Maputo Special Reserve in Mozambique – the first of these big cats to grace the reserve’s plains in six decades. The species has been eliminated from 90% of its range in Africa, and the reintroduction of the cats into suitable wildlife-rich habitats is part of an ambitious goal to establish a healthy metapopulation that contributes not only to building a carnivore guild in the reserve, but also to the conservation of cheetah in the region.

This forms part of Peace Parks Foundation’s overall work in stabilising ecosystems and reintroducing carnivores to ecologically restored landscapes. Not only is the rewilding programme in Maputo Special Reserve contributing to the reserve becoming a world-class wildlife and tourism destination, but restored ecosystems such as these are critical carbon sinks that contribute to mitigating climate change.

The reserve is managed through a partnership agreement signed between Mozambique’s National Administration for Conservation Areas (ANAC) and Peace Parks. This translocation was made possible through the collaboration with conservation experts Ashia Cheetah Conservation, the EWT, and veterinary partner the Mozambique Wildlife Alliance


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Re: Maputo Special Reserve

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Rewilding Africa: Return of the cheetah (Part 2)

28 ott 2021

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Remember the four cheetahs that were flown in from South Africa to kick-start the carnivore guild in Maputo Special Reserve? Well, after three weeks of acclimatising in holding bomas, these big cats have been released into the expanse of the reserve, and already seem to be enjoying every minute of this wildlife-rich habitat.

Using VHF satellite collars, the cheetahs are being carefully monitored daily by reserve management staff from Mozambique's National Administration for Conservation Areas (ANAC) and Peace Parks Foundation, and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), in partnership with the University of Eduardo Mondlane. Initial tracking data shows them crossing significant distances within the reserve’s boundaries as they familiarise themselves with the new environment.

Peace Parks CEO Werner Myburgh describes the magnitude of this particular translocation:
“We’ve been supporting the Government of Mozambique with the intensive rebuilding and rewilding of Maputo Special Reserve for more than a decade, and finally seeing the ecosystem flourish to the point where we can bring back apex predators, is truly rewarding. The reserve is a beacon of hope — a clear demonstration that it is never too late: if humans play their appropriate part, nature can, and will, restore itself and once again provide those resources vital to all manner of life, yielding a flow of benefits to both humans and nature.”

Thank you to all the partners, Ashia Cheetah Conservation, the EWT, the Mozambique Wildlife Alliance, Botlierskop, and &Beyond for helping us fulfil our dream of bringing cheetahs back to Maputo Special Reserve for the first time in six decades, and contributing to the conservation of these threatened cats.


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Re: Maputo National Park

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Maputo National Park — the paradise of elephants and whales

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Maputo National Park offers a combination of ocean and forest. (Photo: Peace Parks)

By Bridget Hilton-Barber | 09 Nov 2022

Home to both elephants and whales, the new park was proclaimed last year after Mozambique merged the Maputo Special Reserve with the Ponta do Ouro Marine Reserve. The park is a stunning bush and beach combo with a rich history and a brand new eco-lodge.
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Many years ago I read Elephantoms by South African-born author Lyall Watson (published by WW Norton 2002) and call me sentimental and unscientific, but oh my, how it stirred me when he described an encounter he witnessed between a female elephant and a female blue whale in Knynsa.

“The matriarch was here for the whale”, he wrote. “The largest living animal in the ocean and the largest living land animal were no more than a hundred yards apart, and I was convinced they were communicating. In infrasound, in concert, in sharing big brains and long lives… these rare and lovely great ladies were commiserating over the back fence of this rocky Cape shore, woman to woman, matriarch to matriarch, almost the last of their kind. I turned, blinking away the tears, and left them to it. This was no place for a mere man…”

Alas, the Knysna elephants are no more, but I’ve never forgotten the profound possibility of an elephant-whale infrasound concert — and if it could have happened in Knysna, it may have happened too, right here in the new Maputo National Park. This newly proclaimed bush and marine park offers you the chance to see both elephants and whales and carry on the conversation over a caipirinha (classic Mozambique cocktail).

We had driven for half a day through this dreamy landscape of coastal lakes, wetlands, swamp forests, grasslands and mangrove forests and seen plenty of surprisingly chilled elephants — and now here we were sitting on a deck overlooking the Indian Ocean watching humpback whales lob and leap in the blue waters.

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There are more than 400 elephants in the Maputo National Park. (Photo: Peace Parks)

What would elephants and whales talk about, we wondered? Fracking, poaching, civil war, human politics, habitat destruction, overfishing? Like so many places on the subcontinent, conservation is a battle against human greed, but this new national park offers sanctuary to a diversity of animals and hopefully, the conversation between whales and elephants can return to sharing the simple important pleasure of complex sociability.

The Maputo National Park is about 68km from Katembe — and the new Maputo-Katembe Bridge and the highway to Pont do Ouro makes it an easy 40-minute drive from the city. You know you’re getting closer when you see the elephant warning signs. We turned off into the park and drove with a flourish through the new gates and met our delightful guide Rodolfo Cumbane.

First up we had to lower the pressure on the vehicle’s tires. This 1,700 sq km park has predominantly sand roads and is strictly for 4x4s only. It was hot and steamy as we set off, sliding down and gearing up the undulating sand dunes with patches of woodlands and already, the sounds of hot and happy birds.

We saw our first herd of very relaxed elephants as the landscape opened out onto magnificent grasslands and marshes. At the last game count, said Rodolfo, there were over 400 elephants but he’s convinced there are more. These massive open floodplains can disguise numbers, as can the thick dune forests.

The Maputo National Park is good news for the elephants. It follows two decades of intensive development and restoration led by Mozambique’s National Administration for Conservation Areas (Anac) and the South African-based Peace Parks Foundation (PPF). The park was originally called the Special Elephant Reserve, explained Rodolfo, and was established in 1960 to protect the elephants. But as we all know, elephants and borders are a tricky thing. Historically, the elephants of northern KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mozambique moved freely around, but during the Mozambican war (1975-1992) these elephants suffered terribly from the war, from landmines, snares and gunfire.

The population was cut in half when the Tembe Elephant Park in SA was fenced off from the Mozambican side to try and safeguard the Tembe elephants. Amazingly, the remnant resident elephant population in the Maputo Special Reserve managed to survive the civil war, and the population is flourishing.

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More than 5,000 animals have been successfully translocated to the Maputo National Park in the past decade. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber; Peace Parks)

The first steps towards restoring cross-border elephant movement began in 2000 with the establishment of the Lebombo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which opened up old movement corridors, including those along the Futi system and Rio Maputo floodplains. This dramatically increased the area available to the elephants and re-established traditional seasonal migrations.

In 2011, the Futi Corridor was proclaimed as an extension of the reserve and another 24 000ha were opened up, another huge step in restoring cross-border elephant movement.

And as for the whales, they are frequent visitors here, and a joy to behold. Peace Parks Foundation played a role in connecting the Ponta do Ouro Marine Reserve with South Africa’s iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site, creating Africa’s first marine transfrontier conservation area, which hopefully will also become a World Heritage Site.

The beaches here are Mozambique’s most important nesting sites for endangered leatherback and loggerhead turtles, while the ocean is a fertile breeding ground for a dazzling array of other marine wildlife, like dugongs, various shark species and the largest aggregation of giant trevally in the world.

Maputo National Park teems with wildlife. In 2010, Anac and PPF began a massive wildlife translocation programme — a rewilding — which by 2022, saw the translocation of more than 5,000 animals into the park, including eight species that had become locally extinct during the country’s civil war. We saw journeys of giraffe, herds of zebra and wildebeest, we saw duiker, bushbuck, kudu, nyala and waterbuck. The fresh and saline coastal lake systems — the largest lakes being the Piti, Xinguti and Munde — are home to an impressive concentration of hippos and crocs and very carefully placed campsites and picnic spots.

There are floodplains, forests, grasslands and woodlands. In some parts, it feels like the Okavango Delta, in others the Serengeti. The diversity is beautiful and — fun fact — the park falls within the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Biodiversity Hotspot, one of the 36 most biologically diverse and endangered eco-regions on earth. It’s a bit like getting the conservation Oscar.

We arrived at Membene in the afternoon. This new eco-lodge is a real soul spot, with a series of contemporary cabins beautifully blended into the forest overlooking a stretch of white beach. The cabins are cool and airy, and you can park off and listen to the birds and the sound of the ocean. They’re really stylish and self-catering, and yes, there is a restaurant opening soon too — with decks and signature beach views — the perfect place for hopeless romantics like myself to entertain the possibility of whales and elephants having an upbeat convo.

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Montebelo Milibangalala Bay Resort is a new and exclusive concession within the park. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber;)

Membene also has a new campsite, with seven areas tucked into the trees, with showers and toilets and shaded braai areas. It feels ancient and profound, perfect for visitors who are after an unspoiled wilderness experience that includes both bush and beach.

An hour or so away from Membene is the new Montebelo Milibangalala Bay Resort, an exclusive hideaway for honeymooners and high-enders, and a concession in the park, whose opening was attended by the presidents of both Mozambique and Portugal. Thatched suites connected by wooden walkways, an infinity pool, a great menu, front row seas onto the humpbacks and dolphins with elephants close by. Heaven.

Further north is another lodge called Anvil Bay which is at Ponta Chemucane, a private and exclusive barefoot beach camp on a rare untouched stretch of coastal wilderness.

One of the loveliest things about travelling in Mozambique is that people here really seem to get tourism. Tourists are regarded with great delight and curiosity. Local buy-in means there are willing partners and opportunities for tour operators, guides, birders and conservationists.

It also means that poaching numbers are low. If there are lots of animals there are lots of tourists and there’s money. In Mozambique, 20% of the revenue generated by government conservation areas is shared with communities living in and around parks and reserves, so poaching when it happens is for the pot and not for profit. Nature-based tourism and conservation enterprises are part of the ethos of this park and it’s one of the most inspiring places to visit in southern Mozambique. DM168

Contact: Maputo National Park Tourism Dept

reservas@parquemaputo.gov.mz

+258 (85) 600 0900 or

+258 (83) 333 6727

www.parquemaputo.gov.mz

Check out: www.peaceparks.org

Stay at: www.anvilbay.com www.montebelohotels.com


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\O


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