Tembe
Tusker Trail
LAUNCHING 2026
An exclusive Thonga Trail Community Partnership
Step back in time on the Tembe–Futi Corridor
A Living Corridor
Between South Africa’s Tembe Elephant Park and Mozambique’s Maputo National Park runs a strip of sand forest and river valley - the Tembe–Futi Corridor. Here, Africa’s last great tuskers still follow ancient paths, and local communities keep alive traditions as old as the elephant trails themselves. Eight of Africa’s remaining thirty “Big Tuskers’ live in Tembe.
Walk among giants.
Tembe Elephant Reserve is one of Southern Africa’s last true big-tusk strongholds - ancient sand forests, secretive pans, and low vehicle density create a rare, old-Africa atmosphere. Our Tembe Big Five Walking Trail places you on foot in this living ecosystem, led by two highly experienced, rifle-qualified trails guides. It’s slow travel at its finest: tracking, signs, bird calls, and the quiet thrill of sharing space with lion, elephant, buffalo, and more.
This is not a museum. It’s a living, breathing time capsule - and in 2025, you can explore 300km2 of Big 5 reserve with Thonga Trails.
This is not mass tourism. It’s community-based, intimate, and restorative - designed to benefit the people of the corridor as much as the visitors who walk it.
Walk the Tusker Trail - where royal pathways and ancient elephant routes still thread the sand forests of Tembe.
why it matters
The Last Tuskers - Tembe’s legendary giant bulls, like the late Isilo, carry ivory genetics of a scale almost lost to history. Mega-tuskers & sand forest: Unique habitat mosaic -towering tuskers, nyala-rich thickets, and birding that never switches off.
Rare Habitats - Dune thicket and sand forest unique to Maputaland, a biome older than the roads and fences. Fewer vehicles, deeper nature: Remote pans, quiet paths, and time to interpret rather than rush. Over 340 species of birds live in Tembe.
Living Culture - The Tembe chieftaincy and surrounding communities have guarded this land for generations. Here, conservation and culture are inseparable. A clear community & conservation levy directly supports local custodianship.
A Pocket Of History
1983
Tembe Elephant Park proclaimed, protecting the tuskers in partnership with the Tembe Tribal Authority. Created to protect natural pathways used by the elephants.
1991
Park opens after elephants recover from the trauma of Mozambique’s civil war.
2010s
The Futi side is formally protected, reconnecting elephant paths under the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area.
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