The Experience
Masizwane Lodge considers the Guest Experience to be the most valued attribute, and endeavours to provide great quality experiences that will leave lasting memories
Perhaps the most enticing attribute of Tembe Elephant Park, relative to any other, is its remote wilderness appeal. The Park offers little bulk infrastructure, with great expanses left as fairly virgin territory. Tembe is as wild as it was centuries ago.
We aim to provide niche and complimentary service offering that will cater for all interests,.
Linking Tembe to Maputo Special Reserve
Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects is that it forms part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation and Resource Area (TFCA). In a historic development, the government of Mozambique on 14 June 2011 approved the declaration of the Futi Corridor as a protected area. This links Tembe Elephant Park to Maputo Special Reserve in Mozambique, and serves to reunite the last naturally occurring coastal elephant population in Southern Africa, which historically moved freely along the Futi River and Rio Maputo floodplains. With the approval of Futi Corridor as a protected area, reuniting these elephants, creating a tourism product and benefitting communities, is set to become a reality.
The Lubombo TFCA has many distinguishing features. Globally it is one of the most striking areas of biodiversity and lies in the Maputaland Centre of Endemism. It also includes five Ramsar sites: Ndumo Game Reserve, the Kosi Bay System, Lake Sibaya, the Turtle Beaches and Coral Reefs of Tongaland, and Lake St Lucia, which at 350 km² is the largest estuary in Africa.
The aim is to remove the electrified border fence to allow elephant and other wildlife to re-establish their ancient migration patterns. Conservation areas along the Futi River will enable communities to become shareholders in conservation and eco-tourism businesses, creating a viable land use option in the region.
The Dutch Postcode Lottery is funding this project with €2 million, and Peace Parks Foundation are now working on realising this link between Maputo Special Reserve and Tembe Elephant Park.
At the edge of the Futi Corridor the Mozambique government is constructing a 6,000 ha wildlife sanctuary, which will be used to relocate different wildlife species from Tembe Elephant Park. The wildlife sanctuary will be a tourist attraction and will also form the basis from where Maputo Special Reserve’s wildlife population will be rebuilt. The extension of Maputo Special Reserve adds another 24,000 ha to Mozambique’s protected areas.