The Bazaruto Archipelago is a group of six islands 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, Mala ...

, near the mainland city of

Vilankulo Vilankulo (or Vilanculos) is a coastal town in Mozambique, lying in the Vilanculos District of Inhambane Province. Vilankulo is named after local tribal chief Gamela Vilankulo Mukoke, and some of the "bairros" (suburbs) are named after his sons. K ...

. It comprises the islands of Bazaruto, Benguerra, Magaruque, Banque, Santa Carolina (also known as Paradise Island) and Shell. Nyati Island is located further south.

Geography

The group belongs to the

Vilanculos Vilankulo (or Vilanculos) is a coastal town in Mozambique, lying in the Vilanculos District of Inhambane Province. Vilankulo is named after local tribal chief Gamela Vilankulo Mukoke, and some of the "bairros" (suburbs) are named after his sons. ...

and

Inhassoro Inhassoro is a small fishing port in Inhassoro District of Inhambane Province in Mozambique. The town has 11,297 inhabitants and is located on the Indian Ocean coast along the EN1 highway. Inhassoro, which looks out at Bazaruto and Santa Caroli ...

districts of

Inhambane Province Inhambane is a province of Mozambique located on the coast in the southern part of the country. It has an area of 68,615 km2 and a population of 1,488,676 (2017 census). The provincial capital is also called Inhambane. The climate is trop ...

. The islands were formed from sand deposited by the Save River, which has since shifted its course. Santa Carolina is a true rock island with deep channels and is just 3 km by 0.5 km in size. It has three beautiful beaches with coral reefs close to the shore. The island, also known as Paradise Island is regarded as the "gem" of the islands forming the Bazaruto Archipelago, which is a proclaimed marine national park. Tourist attractions include sandy beaches,

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

s, and opportunities for surfing and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...

Ecology

View east towards a Bazaruto Archipelago island

The archipelago became a

National Park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

in 1971. There is a wide abundance of reef fish, surgeon,

Moorish idol The Moorish idol (''Zanclus cornutus'') is a marine fish species, the sole extant representative of the family Zanclidae (from the Greek ζαγκίος, ''zagkios'', "oblique") in order Acanthuriformes. A common inhabitant of tropical to sub ...

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittaco ...

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inc ...

and butterfly fish to name but a few.

Sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...

s, game fish and devil rays are regularly seen. Various endangered marine megafaunas, such as

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, ...

, manta,

leatherback turtle The leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea''), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile, reaching lengths of up to and weights ...

cetaceans Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel t ...

including

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hum ...

, and the

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its close ...

. Bazaruto's dugong population counts about 120 individuals, making it the largest of remnant populations in Mozambique. Cetacean biodiversity had been much richer than today before being reduced by human activities including illegal mass hunts by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and Japan in 1960s to 1970s, resulting disappearances or rarities of many species such as the

southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...

s. Since the archipelago's geography provides a number of different ecosystems, an unusual variety of species occur within a relatively small area. Bazaruto is one of two largest islands, the other being Benguerra. The

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. S ...

s '' Scelotes duttoni, Scelotes insularis'', and ''

Lygosoma lanceolatum ''Mochlus lanceolatus'', also known as Broadley's writhing skink, is a species of skink. It is endemic to Mozambique and found in the Bazaruto Archipelago and the adjacent mainland (northern tip of the San Sebastian Peninsula). It inhabits ...

'' are endemic to the Bazaruto Archipelago.

History

It has been speculated that the Bazaruto Archipelago may be the island named Crocodile (Persian ''Sūsmār'') mentioned in the 11th-century Egyptian '' Kitāb Gharāʾib al-funūn wa-mulaḥ al-ʿuyūn'' (The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes). This island is the last place in a list of sites along the East African coast known to Egyptian merchants and is the fifth stop after

Kilwa Kilwa Kisiwani (English: ''Kilwa Island'') is an island, national historic site, and hamlet community located in the township of Kilwa Masoko, the district seat of Kilwa District in the Tanzanian region of Lindi Region in southern Tanzania. K ...

. Bazaruto supports a substantial population of crocodiles.M. Horton (2018), "The Swahili Corridor Revisited", ''African Archaeological Review'', 35(2), 341–346.

References

{{Coord, 21, 38, S, 35, 30, E, source:fiwiki, display=title Archipelagoes of Mozambique Mozambique Channel Geography of Inhambane Province Southern Zanzibar–Inhambane coastal forest mosaic Important Bird Areas of Mozambique