The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP) is a massive transfrontier national park (or ‘peace park’). It links Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park (formerly Coutada 16), South Africa’s Kruger National Park, and three Zimbabwean conservation areas to form a protected area of 35,000 km2. The relocation of some 1000 elephants from the overcrowded Kruger to the Limpopo National Park began in 2001, and in March 2004 a plan was executed that should increase the size of the peace park to all of 99,800 km2.
The GLTP contains a vast tract of dry, low-rainfall savannah that is permeated by several rivers running to the east coast. The area is divided in two by the Lebombo Mountains between South Africa and Mozambique, which rise to an altitude of only about 500m.
The huge peace park contains an astounding diversity of wildlife and plant species, including at least 147 mammal species, and an amazing 500 bird species, as well as at least 2000 species of vegetation.
