Magnificent Mapungubwe

Within the Limpopo Province of South Africa, lies the remains of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe. An ancient society of southern African splendour and wealth, yet forgotten for more than seven centuries. Today, Mapungubwe is protected and celebrated for its cultural history as both a National Park (declared in 2004) and World Heritage Site (declared by UNESCO in 2003). The park was also the venue for our end of year trip (20-24 June 2011), where interns have the chance to catch up, explore a new National Park and reflect on their experiences as an intern.

Mapungubwe National Park is a fascinating area to explore, rich in biodiversity as well as cultural heritage. Huge baobab trees punctuate the landscape, with the Park offering various vantage points for you to take in the sights. A tree top canopy boardwalk gives you a bird’s eye view over the forest, while decks overlooking the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo Rivers allow you to take in the huge expanse of land where Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe unite. During the week, we were fortunate enough to spot giraffe, gemsbok, zebra, klipspinger, dassies, kudu, warthog, eland, bat eared fox, porcupine, elephants and a lioness, who blended in perfectly with her rocky surroundings.

Sam Dagada, the People and Conservation (P&C) Officer, arranged for us to take part on various activities including a: sunset drive, cultural heritage tour to Mapungubwe hill, trip to view one of the many rock art sites in the Park, a tour round the new interpretive centre and inclusion in the Park Forum meeting. Based on our experiences, the current GVI interns Danie and Andy assisted the P&C department with the development of a cultural heritage brochure, providing a brief history of the area and highlighting the Parks many attractions. Huge thanks to you both, as well as to Viv who recently completed her internship in Namaqua, for all your feedback and hard work throughout your stay in South Africa. You’ve made a really valuable impact within SANParks and we will miss you! All the best for your future adventures :-)

Finally a big thank you to Sam and the entire Mapungubwe Park staff for their warm welcome, we had a fantastic trip! For more information on Mapungubwe National Park, check out the SANParks website at http://www.sanparks.org/parks/mapungubwe/

Written by: Claire Warner(GVI/SANParks Program Coordinator)

Date posted: 03 July 2011

Magnificent Mapungubwe