Mapungubwe National Park is located in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It is part of the UNESCO Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape and the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area, which is next to the borders of Botswana and Zimbabwe. The park includes Mapungubwe Hill, a historical site that was home to a community from the Iron Age and the capital of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe. Evidence shows that this community was prosperous. Archaeologists found a famous artifact called the Golden Rhinoceros of Mapungubwe at the site.

History

The history of the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape began 210 million years ago when a type of early plant-eating dinosaur called Plateosauravus (Euskelosaurus) lived in the area.

In the 1920s, the Mapungubwe area became a center for agricultural research because of the work of a botanist named Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans. Pole-Evans helped create the Botanical Survey Advisory Committee, which organized botanical research across the Union of South Africa. A research station from the Botanical Survey was located in the Mapungubwe area. In 1918, at the request of Jan Smuts, the government set aside nine farms in this area to protect wildlife and natural plants. A few years later, this area was called the Dongola Botanical Reserve.

Pole-Evans worked to expand the Dongola Botanical Reserve. By the early 1940s, the reserve included 27 farms, one of which was Greefswald, where Mapungubwe Hill is located. Pole-Evans asked the government to make the reserve a national park with the support of Prime Minister Smuts. In 1944, Minister of Lands Andrew Conroy proposed creating the Dongola Wildlife Sanctuary, which would include 124 farms, 86 of which were privately owned. This idea faced strong opposition from the National Party, which was the official opposition in parliament and the National Parks Board of Trustees. A long debate in parliament took place over whether to protect the area’s natural and historical resources or to allow farming on the land. Supporters said the area needed protection because it had valuable wildlife, unsuitable farmland, and important archaeological sites. Opponents argued that taking farmland for conservation was unfair and that people who had lived on the land for generations should not be forced to leave. The debate, called the "Battle of Dongola," led to the creation of a smaller Dongola Wildlife Sanctuary after the ruling United Party approved the proposal. The National Party won elections in 1948, and the sanctuary was abolished in 1949. Farms that had been taken away were returned to their original owners, state-owned farms were used for resettlement, and money given to donors was returned.

In 1967, a new plan to protect the area was started, and the Vhembe Nature Reserve, which included three farms such as Greefswald, was created as a provincial reserve in Transvaal.

In 1993, De Beers Consolidated Mines, which had created the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve near Greefswald, asked the area to become a national park. In 1995, the South African National Parks Board and the Limpopo provincial government agreed to establish a new national park. The Vhembe-Dongola National Park was officially created on April 9, 1998.

The park was renamed Mapungubwe National Park and opened on Heritage Day, September 24, 2004. In the 21st century, Mapungubwe has become an important site for South Africans and people worldwide. The Mapungubwe National Park was declared in 1998. The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape was named a National Heritage Site in 2001 and added to the World Heritage List in 2003.

Because of its UNESCO World Heritage status, a building was built to house a museum where many artefacts found in the park are displayed. Information about the park’s history and wildlife is also available at the Museum and Interpretive Centre. In 2009, the building won the World Architecture Festival’s World Building of the Year award.

Flora and fauna

The many different types of habitats in the area have led to a wide variety of plant and animal species. There are at least 24 types of Acacia trees and 8 types of Commiphora trees, along with other plant species. The area also has short, thick growths of shrubby Mopane trees, which often grow with other trees, shrubs, and some grasses. The riparian area along the Limpopo River is very important for protecting wildlife. This area has dense vegetation with a closed canopy, growing in rich soil along the river.

The most noticeable trees in this area include fever trees, ana trees, leadwoods, fig trees, and acacias. In some places along the Limpopo River, large areas of this vegetation have been cleared for farming. The floodplain of the Limpopo River allows some trees to grow to very large sizes. Nyala berry trees and ana trees are among those that can grow especially large.

There are also very large baobab trees in the park. One baobab has a trunk that is 31 meters (102 feet) around.

Key features of the area include:
– Landscape
– Walking trail
– Baobab trees on Mapungubwe Hill
– Treetop walk
– Baobab trees in the park

Mapungubwe National Park is home to 387 types of birds, including Verreaux's eagle, southern pied babbler, crimson-breasted shrike, black-faced waxbill, Meyer's parrot, White-crested helmetshrike, Meves's starling, some flycatcher species, yellow-bellied greenbul, black-backed puffback, orange-breasted bushshrike, grey-headed bushshrike, grey-backed camaroptera, Natal spurfowl, western barn owl, African scops owl, Southern white-faced owl, Verreaux's eagle-owl, Pel's fishing owl, pearl-spotted owlet, Kori bustard, chestnut-backed sparrow-larks, wattled starling, Temminck's courser, collared palm thrush, ground hornbill, great white pelican, white-backed night heron, bat hawk, augur buzzard, African hobby, Dickinson's kestrel, green sandpiper, three-banded courser, blue-spotted wood dove, Brown-necked parrot, Senegal coucal, pennant-winged nightjar, blue-cheeked bee-eater, broad-billed roller, racket-tailed roller, African golden oriole, and olive-tree warbler.

The Limpopo floodplain is home to grey crowned cranes, up to seven types of storks, and several waders, herons, crakes, and ducks.

Since 2005, Mapungubwe National Park has been part of a Lion Conservation Unit with South Luangwa National Park. Other animals in the park include African bush elephants, hippos, southern white rhinoceroses, leopards, South African cheetahs, African wild dogs, spotted hyenas, brown hyenas, common elands, blue wildebeests, kudus, Burchell's zebras, bushbucks, waterbucks, impalas, klipspringers, duikers, steenboks, red hartebeests, oryxes, South African giraffes, common warthogs, bush pigs, aardvarks, baboons, African civets, crested porcupines, caracals, and vervet monkeys. At least 17 types of bats have been recorded, including tree-roosting Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bats and cave-dwelling Egyptian fruit bats.

The park is also home to monitor lizards, Nile monitors, giant plated lizards, Trachylepis margaritifera, ground agamas, and speckled thick-toed geckos. At least 32 types of snakes are estimated to live there, though only 15 have been confirmed. Some snake species include southern African pythons, snouted cobras, black mambas, both horned and puff adders, and at least three types of whip or sand snakes. Nile crocodiles live in and along the Limpopo River.

Threats

The park is part of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area. However, plans to mine coal near the park pose a serious risk to its future. A coal mine and power plant are proposed in the area surrounding the park, which could harm its natural and cultural importance. Additionally, the large amount of water needed for mining activities may damage the environment of a wide region.