A new R20-million luxury lodge is to be built at the Maputo Elephant Reserve in southern Mozambique, boosting plans for cross-border tourism between KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique.
The new lodge will be built in the northern part of the Maputo Elephant Reserve – currently home to 330 elephants – close to Inhaca Island and the Maputo Marine Protected Area.
The new lodge will be built at Ponta Chemucane about 50 km north of the KZN border post at Kosi Bay.
The concession for the 30-bed lodge has been awarded to the Bell Foundation in the United States, in partnership with local community group Ahi Zamene Chemucane.
The development forms part of the Lubumbo transfrontier conservation agreement that was signed between South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique to stimulate economic development and boost tourism for all three countries.
Border fences within the transfrontier park have been removed to allow wildlife to freely migrate within the park.
The new lodge will be built in the northern part of the Maputo Elephant Reserve – currently home to 330 elephants – close to Inhaca Island and the Maputo Marine Protected Area.
About half of the herds in the Reserve were originally kept in the Tembe Elephant Reserve after elephants were increasingly being injured or killed by warring factions of Frelimo and Renamo.
Eventually it is hoped that KZN’s Ndumo and Tembe reserves will be linked to the Maputo Elephant Reserve and that the old migration routes used by elephants will be restored along a natural corridor between the different countries.
The Ahi Zamene Chemucane community will hold a 40% stake in the reserve with the Bell Foundation owning the balance. Apart from the new lodge, the reserve will provide camping sites and self-catering, permanent tents within the reserve.
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