Niassa Special Reserve

Niassa is one of the largest protected areas in Africa, about 42,000 square kilometres of miombo woodland, granite inselbergs and the Lugenda River in northern Mozambique, on the Tanzanian border. It holds one of the continent's important lion and wild dog populations and large elephant herds, though poaching has hit the elephants hard, and it is managed by the government with the Wildlife Conservation Society. It is remote and expensive to reach, almost always by charter flight, with a small number of camps, and it is a malaria area. The dry season from May to October is the only practical time to visit.