2Adjoining this core transfrontier park are other land areas in each country, managed in various forms for conservation or sustainable natural resource use and which could usefully be referred to, marketed and managed as a broader transfrontier conservation area (TFCA). These areas include the Zinave National Park, Banhine National Park, Corumana and Massingir development areas as well as interlinking areas in Mozambique, the private and provincial wildlife reserves adjoining the western border of the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and the Save, Malilangwe and other conservancies and community wildlife areas adjoining Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe. This broader TFCA, together with the core Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, comprises an area of 99,800km2.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is widely regarded as the jewel of the various transfrontier conservation areas proposed for Southern Africa. It embraces the internationally-acclaimed Kruger National Park, which already attracts more than a million visitors per annum. As an established, sophisticated tourism infrastructure therefore already exists in one component of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, it could serve as a springboard for increased tourism to the lesser developed areas. Tourists will be attracted by the additional range of adventure, sightseeing, and leisure activities that the expanded park will present. The Giriyondo access facility, which was officially opened in August 2006, allows visitors easy access from Limpopo National Park to Kruger National Park and the surrounding lowveld with its many tourist attractions. Visitors to Kruger, on the other hand now have direct access to the newly opened tourism facilities of Limpopo National Park, as well as a shorter route to the magnificent Mozambican coastline. This greatly enhances the marketing opportunities for this region.
In future, tourists visiting the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park will also be able to move easily into Zimbabwe from Kruger National Park and vice versa. The extended ecotourism area will have more opportunities and attractions for tourists and also have greater capacity to accommodate them. There will be a bridge and border post allowing direct access between the Kruger Park and south-eastern Zimbabwe, across the Limpopo River.
As infrastructure and popularity is established, the international airport at Maputo is also likely to become a significant conduit for foreign visitors wishing to visit the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park and TFCA.
Biophysical features
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is an extensive area of essentially flat savanna bisected north/south by the Lebombo mountain range, and drained by four river systems flowing from west to east. Temperatures are mild in winter and very rarely drop below freezing point, while summers are hot with daily temperatures averaging in the thirties (centigrade). The area is generally rather dry with a rainy season in summer, average rainfall being about 550mm per annum.
Landscape
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park can broadly be categorised as consisting of four landscape types:
Lowland Plains in Mozambique rising to about 450 metres above sea-level (m asl) in the Kruger National Park.
Granitic plateau with interspersed hills along the western side of the transfrontier park between about 500 to 750m asl.
The Lebombo mountain range which bisects the Lowland Plains in a north-south direction, with an average height of about 500m asl.
Riverine courses which flow in a general west-to-east direction, and have distinctive ecosystems associated with them. The major river systems are the Save, Limpopo, Olifants, and Komati.
Several vegetation communities can be broadly categorized:
Mopane woodland and shrubveld
Dominated by Colophospermum mopane, these communities are a very conspicuous feature of the northern half of the transfrontier park and develop on poorly-drained clays and sandy-clay soils. Whereas vast areas are almost completely covered by this species with only minimal representation of other trees, mixed communities do exist where trees such as Combretum apiculatum also form a strong presence, especially in the western part of the transfrontier park. More localised areas exist where mopane mixed with stands of Spirostachys africana, Adansonia digitata or various species of Commiphora also form conspicuous communities. Two types of mopane stands prevail: vast stretches of mopane-shrubveld, and more localized areas of tall mopane forest usually associated with hill-country. Although often regarded as poor game-viewing habitat they are used by a wide range of animal, bird and invertebrate species and are thus important components of the ecosystem. Elephant and buffalo populations thrive in this habitat.
Mixed Bushveld
These communities occur mainly in the southern half of the transfrontier park and are dominated by Acacia nigrescens, Combretum paniculatum, Combretum imberbe, Sclerocarya birrea, and Dichrostachys cinerea. These habitats form the prime game-viewing areas and within the Kruger National Park (and potentially Mozambique) have large herds of zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, giraffe, impala, and other species associated with them, together with species such as rhino and elephant.
Sandveld
These areas occur mainly within Mozambique and are distinctive with a very diverse range of plant species associated with them, making them important areas for biodiversity conservation. Typical trees found here include Bapphia massaiensis, Afzelia quanzensis, Strychnos spp., Terminalia sericea, Albizia spp., and others. Certain species of mammals (e.g. springhare) and birds confine themselves to this habitat. They are also the only places in which very rare species of fish are found, such as the lungfish and killifish Nothobranchius.
Riverine Woodland
Tall woodland exists along most river courses in Kruger Park and Gonarezhou and to some extent in parts of the Mozambican portion of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Notable species in this vegetation community include Trichilia emetica, Ficus sycomorus, Xanthocercis zambesiaca, Diospyros mespiliformis, Acacia robusta, Acacia xanthophloea, Kigelia africana and the palms Phoenix reclinata and Hyphaene natalensis. Although only a narrow band rarely exceeding 150metres in width on each bank, these riverine forests represent a diverse and specialised habitat offering refuge for many mammal species (e.g. elephant shrews, nyala, bushbuck, and hippo) and birds which are strongly associated with such habitats.
Geographic Description