Mapungubwe National Park The creation of the Mapungubwe National Park has been an objective of the South African National Parks for many years. It is based on the rich biodiversity of the area, its great scenic beauty and the cultural importance of the archaeological treasures of Mapungubwe, within the proposed park area.
The Mapungubwe National Park was previously known as Vhembe Dongola National Park. It is situated 60 km west of Musina and about 230 km from Polokwane, the capital town of Limpopo Province.
The park comprises the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape and the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site. It is also located at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers.
Declared a National Heritage Site in 2001, the park was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2003. The Mapungubwe National Park covers an area that is well over 28.000 hectares. The name Mapungubwe means a place of the stone of wisdom. History
Until its demise at the end of the 13th century AD, Mapungubwe was the most important inland settlement in the sub-continent and extended over an area of about 30.000 sq kilometres on either side of Limpopo and Shashe Rivers.
Location
The Mapungubwe National Park is positioned on the international borders of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It is envisaged that the park will eventually form part of a Trans-Frontier Conservation Area shared by the three countries.
It is the only geological defined cultural landscape in the region that includes a full set of successive stages in the early history of this process. Its nomination completes an historical triangle from Mapungubwe to Great Zimbabwe and Khami that continues to influence African society today.
International contacts with Islamic traders on the east coast, who were part of a larger Indian Ocean network, led to African gold and elephant ivory, as well as animal hides and hippo ivory, being worked and exchanged for glass beads and ceramics that derived from as far a field as the Indo-Pacific region, including India, Indonesia and China. An outstanding example of a type of architectural and technological ensemble and landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history and; An outstanding example of a traditional human settlement and land-use which is representative of a culture that became vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.
The Mapungubwe National Park landscape The Mapungubwe National Park landscape has outstanding botanical, ecological, geological and geomorphologic merit, with a range of vegetation types associated with the outcrop of cave sandstone, baobab trees, Karoo fossils and ancient rocks nearly three billion years old. It provides a sanctuary to endangered large mammals, such as the black and white rhinoceros, wild dog, and the continents flagship species, the African elephant. The famous Golden Rhino along with artefacts, glass beads and pottery was unearthed from Mapungubwe National Park and is evidence of the capabilities of the people of that time in both mining as well as art.
African National Parks for many years. It is based on the rich biodiversity of the area, its great scenic beauty and the cultural importance of the archaeological treasures of Mapungubwe, within the proposed park area. 
Trans-Frontier Conservation Area shared by the three countries.
exchanged for glass beads and ceramics that derived from as far a field as the Indo-Pacific region, including India, Indonesia and China. 
from Mapungubwe National Park and is evidence of the capabilities of the people of that time in both mining as well as art. 