Transfrontier Park

Expanding horizons – the Futi/Royal Tembe Transfrontier Park

A dream of conservationists has been the creation of a ‘Golden Horseshoe’ - a vast arc of preserved land stretching from the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa, through Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the western shore. Tembe Elephant Park is already part of this - it is a core area of the greater Lebombo Transfrontier Conservation Area that incorporates areas in Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa. This portion of the ‘superpark’ - the Ndumo Futi Tembe Transfrontier Conservation Area - unites Tembe with the wetlands and pan system of Ndumo Game Reserve. It restores the ancient territories of the elephants in the Futi system and the Rio Maputo wetlands of Mozambique. It gives the great grey giants the freedom to roam along their ancestral routes, to thrive and multiply free of the predations of man. Tembe and Ndumo truly are wilderness - an ever-vanishing natural paradise that is carefully managed and preserved. Hopefully one day the dream of the ‘Golden Horseshoe’ will become real, and elephants once again will be able to travel from ocean to ocean.

Within this transfrontier conservation area Tembe Lodge has a sister resort, Ponta Mamoli, over the border in Mozambique. Ponta Mamoli is a beach lodge, right on a curving sunlit bay. This lodge offers something completely different: outstanding snorkelling and scuba diving in the marine reserve that forms part of the Transfrontier Park. In one day it is possible to see the biggest animal on land - the Tembe elephant - and the biggest animal in the sea - the whale. A combination of the beach and bush experience brings you the best of both worlds and shows you the magical diversity of this ‘superpark’, Transfers are available between these two lodges, and attractive accommodation packages for both lodges are on offer.

This Transfrontier Park is an international Peace Parks initiative, for more details visit www.peaceparks.org