Niassa Game Reserve

Niassa Game Reserve in northern Mozambique is one of the most pristine wilderness areas in Africa. With a surface area of 42,000 km² the region is only just being discovered and contains by far the greatest concentration of wildlife in Mozambique. The magnificent scenery combined with its size and natural wealth makes the Niassa Game Reserve one of Africa’s last true wildernesses.

Niassa provides visitors with an experience of pure wilderness that is almost impossible to find in the world today. A visit to the reserve, and a stay in Lugenda Wilderness Camp, includes a host of activities including game drives, game walks, rock climbing, hiking and unbelievable star gazing. With over 12,000 elephant, 8,000 buffalo, around 200 endangered wild dogs; predators such as lion and leopard and a rich diversity of bird life, your safari experience here is going to be very special.

Niassa Game Reserve in northern Mozambique is one of the most pristine wilderness areas in Africa. With a surface area of 42,000 km² the region is only just being discovered and contains by far the greatest concentration of wildlife in Mozambique. The magnificent scenery combined with its size and natural wealth makes the Niassa Game Reserve one of Africa’s last true wildernesses.

Niassa provides visitors with an experience of pure wilderness that is almost impossible to find in the world today. A visit to the reserve, and a stay in Lugenda Wilderness Camp, includes a host of activities including game drives, game walks, rock climbing, hiking and unbelievable star gazing. With over 12,000 elephant, 8,000 buffalo, around 200 endangered wild dogs; predators such as lion and leopard and a rich diversity of bird life, your safari experience here is going to be very special.

The size of the Niassa Game Reserve is impressive with the total area being twice the size of Kruger National Park in South Africa, or comparable in size to Denmark or Massachusetts. The reserve has the largest protected miombo forest ecosystems in the world and is the largest conservation area of Mozambique.

Other attractions in the Reserve are the spectacular inselbergs (island mountains) that ‘wow’ you as you fly into the reserve. The highest of these rock formations is the Mecula Mountain (1441 m) in the centre of the Reserve and some of these inselbergs are larger than the Ayers Rock in Australia.

Of particular interest are three endemic subspecies, which exist in Niassa but are rare elsewhere, namely: Niassa wildebeest, Boehms zebra and Johnstons impala.

Future plans for the Reserve are very interesting, as soon the Niassa Reserve will be an important cornerstone in the World Bank’s Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (greater eco-tourism and conservation program). The plan is that the Reserve will link to a proposed marine reserve in Cabo Delgado and to the Tanzanian Selous Game Reserve. There is no other single area in Africa that can offer such a diversity of landscape under its protection.