Inhaca Island in Maputo, Mozambique

Inhaca Island is a subtropical island of Mozambique off the East African coast.
The 52 km2 island separates Maputo Bay to the west from the Indian Ocean off its eastern shores. The island's irregular coastline approaches the mainland Machangulo peninsula at Ponta Torres where a 500-metre-wide tidal race separates the two headlands. In administrative terms Inhaca is a municipal district of the municipality of Maputo, while the Machangulo peninsula is included under the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area and is part of the district of Matutuíne, Maputo Province.
The island's dimensions are approximately 12 km by 7 km. The highest point above sea level is the 104-metre Mount Inhaca on the north-eastern shoreline. The south-western peninsula is known as Ponta Punduine while Ponta Torres to the south-east approaches the mainland. Two inland swamps occur at the northerly airstrip and southern Nhaquene respectively. Besides Inhaca settlement on the western shore there are five smaller villages including Inguane, Nhaquene, Ridjeni and Tobia.
Flora
The island is regular destination for ecotourists and ecological researchers. The central land area consists of cultivated fields, while grassy plains are found to the north, flanked by protected usnea-covered dune forests along the eastern and western shores. Extensive exposed mudflats fringe the western and southern shores at low tide. Mangroves cover large sections of the northern shores and southern Saco Bay.
Fauna
Among 160 coral species are staghorn and plate corals. There are two badly damaged pure coral reefs flanking the island's western perimeters, in very shallow water, which are supposed to be protected but in reality there is no actual control of the marine reserves. Conspicuous fish are king mackerel - called serra, potato bass, barracuda and giant trevally. Others present are brindle bass/giant grouper, scorpionfish, butterflyfish, pufferfish, parrotfish, moray eel, Inhaca fringelip and seahorses. Whale sharks and manta rays visit in summer.
Whale watching
Although humpback whales migrate seasonally past these shores whale watching has never become a popular attraction here. The ocean is generally too rough and the whales too far out, while the hiring boats is too expensive for the average person. Southern right whales have become rare today, though whales were historically abundant before they were wiped out by commercial and illegal hunts including mass illegal hunts by the Soviet Union and Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. Resident populations of the Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin and the Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphin occur in the waters around the island. The bottlenose dolphin's abundance fluctuates seasonally, increasing during the austral winter. The humpback dolphin is more resident, living in extremely shallow inshore areas of the western and southern coasts, and form larger groups than recorded elsewhere in southern Africa. Bottlenose dolphins frequent the waters of the northwestern coast, and their group size varies largely from individuals and pairs to hundreds of dolphins. A very small, remaining population of dugong also occur here. Two species of sea turtles visit the eastern shores in summer to breed.
Like us and Join us at Xtreme Collections for more fun and knowledge.