Nestled in the heart of one of Africa’s most important and recognised marine national parks in the Bazaruto Archipelago, Benguerra Island is the second largest island in the region. It boasts a broad variety of marine and terrestrial habitats ranging from coral reefs, seagrass beds, mudflats and estuaries, to forests, savannah and freshwater lakes.
The Bazaruto Archipelago is also vitally important to significant populations of marine wildlife. It is home to the last remaining viable population of dugongs in eastern Africa, is an important breeding site to several sea turtle species, hosts important breeding aggregations of numerous sharks, rays and other fish species and is an important migration staging point for whales, pelagic fish, seabirds and other rare and unique marine wildlife.
In the Bazaruto Archipelago, our projects include studies of the movement patterns and habitat use of apex predators including sharks and giant trevally, assessing the ecological responses of a fishing exclusion zone, and involving local island communities in our work and marine conservation education initiatives.