The Mgobezeleni Research Project

The Mgobezeleni Research Project on the Maputaland Coast has been established to study the linkages between the hydrology, ecology and biology of the wetlands (lakes, rivers, pans, estuary), groundwater and estuary in a coastal environment. The site was selected because it is small enough to encompassed nearly all of the important features of the vast coastal plain that extends from Mtunzini in the south to northern Mozambique.

The study site is dominated by groundwater that contributes directly to streams, lakes, peatlands, pans, estuary and the marine nearshore systems.  The projects was initiated by retired researchers with diverse backgrounds and different disciplines who have a common vision to find a manageable site to study the linkages between their disciplines of hydrology, ecology, and biology with collaborating researchers and students from the University of Zululand (UZ) and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU).  The vision of the group is to form the nucleus of future collaboration with other research organisation interested in the coastal environment.

The overiding aim of the project is to understand the goods and services rendered to the ecological and biological systems by the hydrological system in a developing environment on a coastal aquifer with various surface water resources that are dominated by the groundwater.