Current view: Text account
Site description (2020 baseline):
Site location and context
Covering an area of about 1039 km2 the proposed KBA encompasses the whole Maputo Special Reserve (MSR) including the Futi Corridor. The MSR is in the Matutuine district of Maputo Province, southern Mozambique. Its borders are: Maputo Bay in the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, the Maputo River, Futi River and a 2 km east line from the Salamanga-Ponta do Ouro Road to the west, and the southern end of the Xingute and Piti in the south. This protected area lies within the Maputaland Centre of Endemism, an area running through north-east KwaZulu-Natal to eastern Eswatin and southernmost Mozambique, which is believed to hold about 2500 endemic plant species or infraspecific taxa (Van Wyk, 1996). The climate is characterized by a warm and rainy season (from October to March, with temperatures ranging from 26 to 30ºC) and a cold and dry season (from April to September, with temperatures ranging from 14 to 26ºC). The annual average rainfall is between 690-1000 mm (de Boer and Ntumi, 2001). The soils are sandy, with low nutrient content except along the Futi River and Maputo floodplain, where the soils are alluvial, with clay and organic matter and are generally fertile (De Boer and Ntumi, 2001). The soils are mainly Aeolian sand deposits of marine origin, which rest on an undulating impermeable Cretaceous siltstone floor. The undulating sand ridges are interspersed with depressions that can have a higher clay content (Parker and de Boer, 2000). According to DNAC (2010), the vegetation of the MSR is characterized by a unique mosaic of varied ecosystems including: mangroves, dune vegetation, wooded grasslands, sand forest-woodland mosaic, sand forest, savannah and riverine vegetation.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Maputo Special Reserve (Mozambique). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/maputo-special-reserve-iba-mozambique on 23/12/2024.
