Limpopo National Park
Key Facts
Countries
Mozambique
Area
9 259 km²
Management Model
Integrated Co-management
Animals Rewilded
4 789
Community Beneficiaries
33 599
Limpopo National Park forms the key anchor of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area and is central to restoring one of southern Africa’s most important conservation landscapes. Its 200 km border with South Africa’s Kruger National Park creates a unique opportunity for cross-border wildlife movement, ecological restoration and long-term tourism development.
Stretching along the Limpopo River, the park spans habitats ranging from riverine forest to mopane woodland, providing important habitat for species such as elephant, lion and African wild dog. As Mozambique’s largest national park, Limpopo plays a vital role in restoring degraded ecosystems, safeguarding biodiversity and strengthening the resilience of the wider Great Limpopo landscape.
More than two decades of partnership between the Government of Mozambique and Peace Parks has transformed the park. Sustained investment in infrastructure, wildlife restoration and protected area management has helped restore ecological function while laying the foundations for long-term conservation, tourism and community development.
Focus Areas
Our focus areas below reflect some of the long-term work underway in Limpopo National Park.
Rewilding
Restoring wildlife populations and ecological function through large-scale reintroductions and long-term protection. More than two decades of partnership between the Government of Mozambique and Peace Parks have transformed Limpopo National Park from a depleted former hunting area into a significant rewilding success story. In the late 1990s, aerial surveys recorded only a handful of large animals.
Following the reintroduction of the park’s first 25 elephants, comprising four bulls and three family groups, wildlife populations have recovered. Today, elephants have increased fivefold over the past decade to more than 4 600, and broader wildlife recovery from 6 393 animals in 2010 to 20 829 in 2024.
Ecological Connectivity
Strengthening ecological linkages across the Great Limpopo landscape to enable wildlife movement beyond park boundaries.
By opening dispersal routes from Kruger National Park into Mozambique, Limpopo National Park provides a gateway for elephants to access additional habitat and move onwards into Zinave and Banhine National Parks, helping to relieve pressure on ecosystems while restoring natural landscape connectivity.
Community Development
Supporting neighbouring communities through improved livelihoods, irrigation, health and human-wildlife coexistence initiatives.
These programmes help strengthen household resilience while ensuring communities benefit from, and actively participate in, the restoration of the Great Limpopo landscape.
Stories from Limpopo
Conservation at this scale cannot be done alone.
Long-term conservation depends on partners prepared to invest in the future of these landscapes through funding, expertise, technology and long-term commitment.