Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park

An African Noah's Ark

One of the most exciting conservation initiatives in southern Africa is the development of Transfrontier Parks and Conservation Areas. Foremost among them is the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. It brings together some of the best wildlife areas in southern Africa, and it is the first peace park to straddle three international boundaries.

One of the largest parks in the world

The park includes South Africa's world-famous Kruger National Park with its abundance of wildlife, excellent infrastructure and tourism base. Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou National Park will be linked with the northern Kruger by a wilderness corridor, and hundreds of kilometers of fences between the Kruger Park and Mozambique's Limpopo National Park have already been removed.

The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, at 35,000km², is roughly the size of Belgium or Israel. It's the largest transfrontier park in South Africa and one of the largest parks in the world.

What's a transfrontier park?

Political borders don't respect ecological systems. Where conservation areas neighbour one another, and the people in charge of them agree to join them and manage them as one unit, a transfrontier park comes into being.

Transfrontier parks try to re-establish historical animal migration routes, allowing animals to roam freely. This enlightened system of conservation will result in the return of a larger, more resilient ecosystem.

Peace Parks Foundation

In 1990 Anton Rupert, President of WWF South Africa, met with Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano. He wanted to link the protected areas in southern Mozambique with their neighbours in South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

The idea was to move away from strictly protected and fenced-off national parks by introducing transfrontier conservation areas. Because of the political situation at the time, the idea remained only that.

Uplifting the subcontinent

But a couple of years after the democratic election of Nelson Mandela, South Africa began to experience rapid growth in its tourism industry. It was clear that a transfrontier park would allow South Africa's neighbours to enjoy the benefits too.

Interest in the transfrontier park concept grew. All the southern African countries began to recognize that tourism could be a powerful force to uplift the subcontinent, creating jobs and bringing international money and investment. The Peace Parks Foundation was founded in 1997 to make sure the transfrontier idea became reality.

The first transfrontier park

Although it all started with the Great Limpopo Park (then referred to as the Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezho Park), it wasn't the first of the transfrontier parks to be opened. The first transfrontier park was declared early in 2000.

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park spans the borders of South Africa and Botswana. At nearly 38,000km², it's even larger than the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park and links the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana and the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa. The Kglagadi Transfrontier Park has been jointly managed for the last five years, with great success.

The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park

The foundations for the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park were laid when the ministers of wildlife for Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe signed a Memorandum of Understanding in October 1999.

But the Transfrontier Park only became a physical reality when it allowed free movement of animals and people across what were previously impassable boundaries. The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park was officially opened when the three heads of state signed a treaty in December 2002 in Mozambique.

The link-up with Gonarezhou has not yet happened, although the process to proclaim the Sengwe Corridor as a wilderness area has started. This corridor is a vital link between Gonarezhou and the rest of the park. However, it's unlikely that this will happen while Zimbabwe's troubles persist.

When it is eventually complete, the park will stretch over 35,000 square kilometers, made up of 58 percent South African, 24 percent Mozambican and 18 percent Zimbabwean territory. The park is really just the first phase in the establishment of an enormous transfrontier conservation area measuring 100,000km².

The Great Limpopo Ecosystem

Geographically, the transfrontier park consists of a broad swath of tropical, temperate and dry savannah. It is bisected by the Lebombo mountain range which runs north to south and drained by Limpopo, Save, Olifants, and Kornati Rivers, running west to east. A broader conservation area surrounds the park.

Parts of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park have been inhabited since the Stone Age, as rock paintings in the Wolhuter wilderness and ruins at Thulamela attest. The park is also home to many animals.

Predators include lion, leopard, and wild dog. There are the giants of the bush - elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus - as well as large herds of antelope, which number wildebeest, giraffe, impala, eland, kudu and zebra. There are also hundreds of species of birds and fish.

The animals went in two by two

Between 1975 and 1994, Mozambique suffered a long and terrible civil war. As well as severely damaging its economy and infrastructure, the war took a heavy toll on the country's wildlife. To help with the establishment of the transfrontier park in Mozambique, South Africa is transferring thousands of animals from the Kruger National Park to the Limpopo National Park.

These animals include many large mammals, like elephant, giraffe, zebra, impala, warthog and other species. The animal relocation is supposed to take about three years. During this time, around 6,000 animals will be introduced into Mozambique from South Africa. With ancient migration routes re-established, the game will be able to follow its natural courses once more.

Hope for the elephants?

The great elephant herds of the Kruger National Park face the threat of culling. The Kruger Park currently has about 13 000 elephants, but its maximum carrying capacity is supposed to be only 7 000.

It is hoped that the migration of elephants into Mozambique will relieve some of the pressure on the Kruger Park, where their huge numbers have been causing serious damage to the environment.

In October 2001, South Africa handed over the first elephants to Mozambique. South Africa was actually repaying an old debt by giving the elephants to Mozambique.

Most of the Kruger National Park's existing elephants were bred from a small group of elephants who crossed into the Kruger Park from Mozambique about 100 years ago. Kruger's original elephant population had been completely wiped out by hunters.

Back in their old stomping grounds

The main aim of introducing these elephants into the Mozambican side of the park was to encourage the movement of more elephants into Mozambique. After an initial setback (most of the first elephants ran straight back to the safety of South Africa), the project was successful. Elephants are now moving both ways across the border between Mozambique and South Africa.

Some experts think it is possible that the elephants are calling to each other, with signals that can carry for many miles, that it is safe to return. Now that the civil war is over, the Mozambican side of the park is no longer a hunting place for guerrilla fighters.

As well as helping to relieve the necessity for elephant culling in the Kruger Park, the successful elephant migration in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is encouraging for the other transfrontier parks in southern Africa. The old migration routes have been re-established and the elephants are once again in their old stomping grounds.

People vs. Park

The reintroduction of animals into Mozambique is not without difficulties and controversy, however. The Mozambican side of the park covers about 40,000 square kilometres, and is currently inhabited by about 20,000 people. These people are seriously affected by the new park.

Although the park's charter states that there will be no forced relocations of people, the proximity of all these animals (especially the elephants) will have an impact on agriculture and settlements in and around the park. And the locals don't place much faith in promises that their villages will be fenced and protected from wild animals.

The presence of huge numbers of poachers is a further problem, mainly on the Mozambican and Zimbabwean sides of the giant park. While poaching is pretty much under control in South Africa, poverty, war and widespread hunger in Mozambique and Zimbabwe have resulted in the parks being plundered. About one thousand "war veterans" are living off bush meat in Gonarezhou, and the Mozambican poachers are apparently armed with AK47s.

Jobs, money and hope

Despite these clouds, the transfrontier park is a beacon of hope to the two war-torn countries. This park will provide jobs and income producing opportunities for hundreds of the local people. By improving the lives of the local people, the park will contribute to its own sustainability, by proving that wildlife conservation saves people too.

Easier access to the park

Possibly the most important recent development is the new R6-million Giriyondo border post, situated 45km from Letaba on the eastern boundary of the Kruger Park. The Giriyondo gate is only 100km from Phalaborwa airport and offers the easiest point of access to the Limpopo Park.

Tourists are able to enter Mozambique through the gate without the need for a visa (although a valid passport is required). The new park offers new attractions, including 4x4 trails, tiger fishing and lake cruises. All the indications are that a growing number of tourists will travel via Kruger to Mozambique through the new Giriyondo gate.

Part of Africa's success story

At the opening of the park, Nelson Mandela pointed out that the event had a wider significance. "Africa has a success story and the peace parks concept is an important part of that story," he said. "The world can learn from us. They can see that we as Africans are using our natural heritage for the benefit of all life."

Article © Copyright 2006 Go2Africa.

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