GROWTH IN WILDLIFE IN LIMPOPO NATIONAL PARK

The number of large mammals in the Limpopo National Park (PNL) in southern Mozambique has grown by about 15 per cent over the past ten years and now stands at about 4,000 animals.According to the first edition of “Singuedzi”, the PNL Information Bulletin, this census covers elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, zebra, wildebeest, kudos, impalas and various other species of antelope. It does not include monkeys and other smaller mammals, reptiles or birds.When what was previously a hunting area known as “Coutada 16” was declared a national park in 2001, it contained few animals, but a programme to restock the park took place between 2002 and 2006. Since then numbers have continued to grow, despite the efforts of poachers.The PNL covers rather more than 1.1 million hectares, and was set up as part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which also includes the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and the Gonarezhou Park in Zimbabwe. Between them, the three parks cover a total area of 5.5 million hectares.The PNL has also made headway in resettling the people who used to live inside the park, and in building accommodation and other facilities for tourists. Private investors are now visiting the region, and showing interest in building further tourist lodges on the banks of the Limpopo and Shinguedzi rivers. Between 2005 and 2011 the PNL delivered to state coffers over 26 million meticais (about 956,000 US dollars) in tourism fees.