Maputo National Park

Maputo National Park is a national park in Mozambique, located on Maputo Bay, approximately 100 kilometers southeast of the city of Maputo

Maputo National Park
Location	Mozambique
Created	2021

The park has an area of 1,718 km² (663 square miles). It results of the merger of the Maputo Special Reserve (1,040 km² (400 square miles)) and the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (678 km² (262 square miles))^[1]

The Maputo Special Reserve (previously known as Maputo Elephant Reserve) was originally proclaimed in 1932 to protect a small population of coastal elephants resident in the area.^[2]

The reserve combines lakes, wetlands, swamp forests, grasslands and mangrove forests with a coastline that lies within the Maputaland Centre of Endemism. As of 2020, the number of elephants in the reserve is about 400.^[3]

The reserve will eventually form part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which includes national parks from South Africa, Mozambique and Eswatini. Currently it forms part of the Usuthu-Tembe-Futi Transfrontier Conservation Area.

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.^[4]

Eco-tourism infrastructure in the reserve consists of the Anvil Bay resort, which opened in 2015.^[5]

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.^[6]

Fauna

Includes 400 African bush elephants, Birds (Kingfisher, Fish Eagle and many more), zebra, antelope, Nile crocodiles, hippos, small bucks (red forest duiker, suni, reedbuck and steenbok).