Tembe Elephant Park is a 30 012 ha

game reserve A game reserve (also known as a game park) is a large area of land where wild animals are hunted in a controlled way for sport. If hunting is prohibited, a game reserve may be considered a nature reserve; however, the focus of a game reserve ...

Maputaland Maputaland is a natural region of Southern Africa. It is located in the northern part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa between Eswatini and the coast. In a wider sense it may also include the southernmost region of Mozambique. The bi ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is adjacent to

Ndumo Game Reserve Ndumo Game Reserve is a small () South African game reserve famous for its wetlands which shelter hippopotamus, crocodiles, fishes and an extraordinary diversity of birdlife. It is located in the far northeast district of KwaZulu-Natal known as M ...

. The park was developed by Tembe Tribal Authority and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. It was established in 1983 to protect

elephants Elephants are the Largest and heaviest animals, largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian ele ...

which used to migrate between Maputaland and southern

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. These elephants were traumatised by

poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

during the civil war in Mozambique so the park was only opened to the public in 1991. The park is now home to 250 elephants which are the largest in the world. Isilo, the largest living tusker in the southern hemisphere, died in 2014. 200 more elephants which used to be part of the same group live in the

Maputo Elephant Reserve Maputo Special Reserve (formerly known as Maputo Elephant Reserve) is a nature reserve in Mozambique. The reserve is located on Maputo Bay, approximately 100 kilometers southeast of the city of Maputo, Mozambique. The Reserve is 1,040 km2 ( ...

in Mozambique. The

Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area The Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area was born out of the Peace Park Foundation’s vision to establish a network of transfrontier conservation areas in southern Africa. It straddles the border between South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal provi ...

is planned to link the two reserves and the

Lubombo Conservancy Lubombo Conservancy comprises 5 reserves in Eswatini: * Hlane Royal National Park Hlane Royal National Park is a national park in Eswatini, roughly 67 km northeast of Manzini along the MR3 road.South Africa, page 815 Prior to being design ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

in a single transfrontier reserve. More than 340 bird species have been recorded in Tembe, including the rare Rudd's apalis, the

rufous-bellied heron The rufous-bellied heron (''Ardeola rufiventris'') is a species of heron in the genus ''Ardeola'', the pond herons, of the family Ardeidae. It is found in southern Africa. Taxonomy The rufous-bellied heron was formally described in 1850 by the S ...

, the

Swamp nightjar The swamp nightjar or Natal nightjar (''Caprimulgus natalensis'') is a crepuscular and nocturnal bird in the nightjar family found in Africa. Distribution and habitat It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Republic of the Cong ...

and the

Woodwards's batis Woodwards' batis (''Batis fratrum'') or the Zululand batis, is a species of small bird in the wattle-eyes family, Platysteiridae. It occurs in southeastern Africa where it is found in woodlands and forests. Taxonomy A description of Woodwards' ...

. This park is to be included into the Usuthu-Tembe-Futi Transfrontier Conservation Area.

References

External links

Tembe Elephant Park

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife

Tembe Wilderness Trust

Tembe Live WebCam
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Parks {{KwaZuluNatal-geo-stub