Maputo National Park is a protected area in Mozambique, situated on Maputo Bay, about 100 kilometers southeast of the city of Maputo. The park covers an area of 1,718 square kilometers (663 square miles) and is located in the Matutuíne District of Maputo Province. It also includes part of Inhaca Island, which is near the city of Maputo.

History

The park was formed on December 7, 2021, by combining two existing conservation areas: the Maputo Special Reserve (1,040 square kilometers or 400 square miles) and the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (678 square kilometers or 262 square miles). The Maputo Special Reserve, previously called the Maputo Elephant Reserve before 1969, was first declared in 1932 as the Maputo Elephant Reserve to protect a small group of coastal elephants living in the area. The park was damaged by the Mozambican Civil War, which greatly reduced the number of animals in the area. In 2006, the government signed an agreement with the South Africa-based conservation group Peace Parks Foundation to restore the park. This effort led to the reintroduction of many animal species starting in 2010.

The Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve was established in 2009 to protect the coastal ecosystem of the southernmost region of Mozambique.

Ecology

The park includes lakes, wetlands, swamp forests, grasslands, mangrove forests, and a coastline located within the Maputaland Centre of Endemism.

The park is home to 5,000 individual animals from 16 mammal species, such as kudu, impala, eland, giraffe, buffalo, wildebeest, and zebra. In 2023 and 2024, spotted hyenas were relocated to the park as part of a program to move animals from Sabie Game Park in South Africa. The park’s population of 400 African elephants has also grown due to the movement of herds from Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa since 2014, after the Mozambique–South Africa border reopened. In the coastal area, many marine species, including dolphins, whales, sharks (such as the whale shark), rays, coral fish, and sea turtles, live.

Management

The park is part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which includes national parks in South Africa, Mozambique, and Eswatini.

In 2018, the Peace Parks Foundation, a group that helps manage conservation areas, signed an agreement with the government of Mozambique to support the management and development of the Maputo Special Reserve and the nearby Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve. This project received $16 million from several groups, including the Reinet Foundation, Wyss Foundation, and the World Bank-funded MozBio program.

The reserve has eco-tourism facilities, such as the Anvil Bay resort, which opened in 2015.

In 2025, the site was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as part of an expansion of the ISimangaliso Wetland Park in nearby South Africa.