Mozambique Info
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
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Home Country: mozambique
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 Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:54 am Post subject: MOZAMBIQUE TOURISM GUIDE / TOURISM IN MOZAMBIQUE |
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MOZAMBIQUE TOURISM GUIDE
The country is opening up to tourism but, at present, it is mainly in the form of package tours. Independent travelers are relatively few in number. Beira has lovely beaches and is the base for trips to Gorongosa National Park (see below). Amongst the numerous beaches in Mozambique are Ponta do Ouro, Malugane (in the south), Inhaca Island (near Maputo), Inhambane with its beach resort of Tofo (about 400km/250 miles north of the capital), Xai-Xai, Vilankulo, São Martino do Bilene and Chonguene.
MAPUTO
The museum in Maputo, the capital, houses paintings and sculptures by well-known local artists. The gallery in the Ministry of Labour building is also worth a visit, as is the market. Ilha de Moçambique (Mozambique Island), near Nampula in the north, is a fascinating place, dotted with 17th- and 18th-century buildings, many of them from the colonial Portuguese period. There are also some interesting mosques dating from that period. It has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Maputo's most important landmark is the Fort of Nossa Senhora da Conceiao (Our Lady of Conception) which was the nucleus of the original settlement. Another imposing building is the Central Railway Station, an enormous structure looking more like a palace for kings, than a siding for commuters. There are also some excellent - and fantastically expensive - restaurants where you can enjoy beers and peri-peri prawns. The infamous Fere de Populare has dozens of bars and discos where Mozambicans dance well into the night to seductive Latino beats. These places are lots of fun and quite safe, but men seldom escape without at least one proposition from the many prostitutes.
Other visitors head south into the swamplands of the 236,000-hectare Maputo Elephant Reserve where rolling green hills meet the sea. Crocs, hippos, side-striped jackals, antelope and up to 200 elephants are found here. The area is currently being restored and there are plans to introduce more animals, and open lodges in the future. Visitors fly in directly to the airport.
Regions that are being promoted as tourist resorts include the Bazaruto Archipelago (780km/485 miles north of Maputo), consisting of four islands plus surrounding islets and reefs. This beautiful area features inviting sandy beaches and offers excellent opportunities for game fishing.
NATIONAL PARKS
Bazaruto National Park
The Bazaruto Archipelago comprises six islands off the Mozambican coast between Vilankulo and Inhassoro, and was declared a National Park in 1971. Despite the 150 bird species that inhabit the islands' palm-fringed beaches and lush interiors, the greatest attractions of the archipelago are not on its islands but in its seas.
The dive centres on Bazaruto and Benguerra islands launch into one of the world's very finest diving destinations – a crystal-clear ocean warmed by the Mozambique Stream and home to an astounding variety of marine life. Myriads of tropical fish aside, divers frequently see humpback whales, marine turtles, spinner, humpback and bottlenose dolphins, large game fish like marlins and barracudas and the particularly rare and endangered dugong.
Limpopo National Park
The Limpopo National Park came into being when an old hunting concession, Coutada 16, was declared a protected nature conservation area instead. The Limpopo National Park now forms part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a transnational conservation area spanning the borders of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Mozambique's wildlife population was all but decimated during the 14 years of war preceding 1990, and the country's parks have been battling to restore their game reserves ever since. With the help of a R42 million donation from Germany, the Limpopo National Park is being upgraded and provided with fencing and anti-poaching units.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP) links Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park (formerly Coutada 16), South Africa's Kruger National Park, and three Zimbabwean conservation areas to form a protected area of 35,000 km2. The relocation of some 1000 elephants from the overcrowded Kruger to the Limpopo National Park began in 2001, and in March 2004 a plan was executed that should increase the size of the peace park to all of 99,800 km2.
The GLTP contains a vast tract of dry, low-rainfall savannah that is permeated by several rivers running to the east coast. The area is divided in two by the Lebombo Mountains between South Africa and Mozambique, which rise to an altitude of only about 500 m. The huge peace park contains an astounding diversity of wildlife and plant species, including at least 147 mammal species, and an amazing 500 bird species, as well as at least 2000 species of vegetation.
Maputo Elephant Reserve
The sandy and humid Maputo Elephant Reserve is situated 79 km south of Maputo in the southernmost province of Mozambique. It is part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area, an international conservation project joining areas of Mozambique, South Africa, and Swaziland.
In 1975 huge numbers of game were relocated to the Maputo Elephant Reserve from South Africa's Umfolozi Game Reserve. Of these, only 200 elephant and no rhinoceros survived the turmoil of the Mozambican civil war. The Maputo Elephant Reserve is currently working to replenish its wildlife population, which was all but destroyed during wartime.
The Lubombo TFCA (Transfontier Conservation Area) spans an area of 4,195 km2, two-thirds of which is in Mozambique, a quarter in South Africa and 8% in Swaziland. Occupying the coastal plain between the Lebombo mountains and the Indian ocean, the unique Lubombo TFCA contains a great diversity of wildlife-viewing biomes including a pristine and beautiful coastal area.
The TFCA comprises five parks, including Mozambique's Maputo Elephant Reserve and South Africa's Tembe Elephant Park, and its creation has resulted in the first major elephant sanctuary along the eastern coast of Africa.
Parque Nacional da Gorongoza
Gorongosa Mountain and National Park is situated north-west of Beira near the border with Zimbabwe. It comprises 1,2 million hectares of open plain, bush, swamp and waterways, spread between the Pungwe and Urema rivers. During the 1960s this was one of the finest game reserves in Southern Africa and attracted more than 12 000 visitors a year and had more game than the Kruger National Park.
The famous camp at Casa des Leos, or the "House of Lions", was so named because a pride of lions inhabited the old buildings and could frequently be seen clambering over the framework and broken walls. Sadly they, like the vast herds of buffalo, eland, kudu, wildebeest and sable, are now gone. During the war much of the game was shot for food, and the rest camp at Chitengo was used as a Renamo base and subsequently bombed to bits.
Recently the Mozambique government has started restoring the park, erecting a small campsite at Chitengo and clearing mines from the roads. The park can now be explored in private vehicles or on organised game drives. The vegetation and birdlife is still superb and there are plans to introduce game in the near future from South Africa and Zimbabwe, but it will take decades before restoration is completed.
Quirimba National Park
The Quirimba National Park – the first in the world to be established at the request of an area's inhabitants – comprises the eleven southernmost islands of the Quirimba Archipelago in northern Mozambique.
The park's habitats – four of which are officially the most outstanding examples of their habitat types in the world – include coral reefs, sea grass beds, sandy white beaches, mangroves, woodland, savannah, forests, and mountains, and they are home to many of the world's most endangered species, including the extremely rare dugong.
The Quirimba Archipelago is notable for the size and variety of the fish along its reef. Up to 375 species of fish, including Zambezi and hammerhead sharks, plus marine turtles and three species of dolphins have been identified within the sanctuary. |
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