The island of Portuguese (historically referred to as Elephant Island) is a small island located about 200 meters northwest of the island of Inhaca, at the entrance of

Maputo Bay

in southern Mozambique. Currently, the island is an integral reserve, administered by the Marine Biology Station of Inhaca. Besides being a very unstable formation that has changed so every time there is a cyclone in the region, the island has a small lagoon where there is a coralline of great beauty and relatively protected. Historically, this island was important because it was the place where traders Europeans exchanged their trinkets of ivory, from the XVI century and until the construction of pier Loureno Marques, in the late nineteenth century.