Maputo Special Reserve (formerly known as Maputo Elephant Reserve) is a nature reserve in

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. The reserve is located on

Maputo Bay Maputo Bay ( pt, Baía de Maputo), formerly also known as Delagoa Bay from ''Baía da Lagoa'' in Portuguese, is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique, between 25° 40' and 26° 20' S, with a length from north to south of over 90&n ...

, approximately 100 kilometers southeast of the city of

Maputo, Mozambique Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

. The Reserve is 1,040 km² (400 square mile) in extent and was originally proclaimed in 1932 to protect a small population of coastal elephants resident in the area. The reserve combines lakes, wetlands, swamp forests, grasslands and mangrove forests with a coastline that lies within the Maputaland Centre of Endemism. According to the latest data, the number of elephants in the reserve is about 400. The reserve will eventually form part of the

Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area The Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area was born out of the Peace Park Foundation’s vision to establish a network of transfrontier conservation areas in southern Africa. It straddles the border between South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal provin ...

, which includes national parks from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

. Currently it forms part of the

Usuthu-Tembe-Futi Transfrontier Conservation Area Usuthu-Tembe-Futi Transfrontier Conservation Area is a group of protected areas in southern Africa, straddling parts of South Africa, Mozambique and Eswatini, including the following: * Maputo Special Reserve (Mozambique). * The Futi Corridor (M ...

. In 2018 the transfrontier conservation group

Peace Parks Foundation The Peace Park Foundation, founded in 1997 by Dr Anton Rupert, President Nelson Mandela and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, is an organization that aims to re-establish, renew and conserve large ecosystems in Africa, transcending man-made bo ...

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. Eco-tourism infrastructure in the reserve consists of the Anvil Bay resort, which opened in 2015.

Habitats

Fauna

Includes 350 African elephants, Birds (Kingfisher, Fish Eagle and many more),

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zeb ...

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

hippos A hippo or hippopotamus is either of two species of large African mammal which live mainly in and near water: * Hippopotamus * Pygmy hippopotamus Hippo or Hippos may also refer to: Toponymy * The ancient city of Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Al ...

, small bucks (red duiker, suni, reedbuck and steenbok).

References

Protected areas of Mozambique Elephant conservation Geography of Maputo Important Bird Areas of Mozambique {{Africa-protected-area-stub