Outward Bound

Maputo National Park, Mozambique

- Text and photos by Leon Marais

A Great Egret hunts in the shallows of Lagoa Xinguiti. The campsite is located close to the edge of the pan.

If you've got the camping gear, the 4x4 vehicle and a dash of adventurous spirit, you may be looking for some new and exciting birding destinations. If so, Mozambique's Maputo National Park is just the ticket.

Located south of Maputo, on the coastal plain east of the Lebombo range, this 1700-square-kilometre park offers a mix of coastal grasslands, coastal forest, sand forest, swamp forest, shallow freshwater lakes and marine habitats, making for a visually stunning landscape and plenty of variety ... one minute you're driving through a patch of thick forest, only to pop out onto a grassy floodplain before disappearing into a grove of pod mahoganies and then emerging on a lake shore. Several campsites have recently been opened and it's not a destination that is hard to get to - from Mbombela or northern KwaZulu-Natal the main gate is only half-a-day's drive away.

A spectacular shot of a Caspian Tern snatching a morsel of food off the surface of Lagoa Xinguiti.