The coastline extends from 26° 52′ S. to 10° 40′ S., and from south to north makes a double curve with a general trend outward to the east.

The continental shelf is up to 140 km (87 mi) wide at Beira, and is Mozambique's most important marine fishery.

[3] North of the Zambezi, the small coralline islands of the Primeiras and Segundas Archipelago lie parallel to the coast.

The northern coast is much indented, abounding in rocky headlands and rugged cliffs, with an almost continuous fringe of islands.

Nacala on Fernao Veloso Bay is the principal seaport on the northern coast, with a rail link to Malawi and the coalfields of northwestern Mozambique.

It does not present a uniformly abrupt descent to the plains, but in places, as in the lower Zambezi district, slopes gradually to the coast.

The Manica Plateau, farther north between the Save and Zambezi rivers, is higher, rising towards the Eastern Highlands along the border with Zimbabwe.

Gorongosa, rising isolated with precipitous outer slopes, has been likened in its aspect to a frowning citadel.

The country between Malawi and Ibo is remarkable for the number of fantastically-shaped granite peaks, or inselbergs, which rise from the plateau.

This northern plain has been categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as part of the Eastern miombo woodlands ecoregion.

Besides the Zambezi, the most considerable river in Mozambique is the Limpopo which enters the Indian Ocean about 160 km (100 mi) north of Maputo Bay.

The other Mozambican rivers with considerable drainage areas are the Komati, Save, Buzi, and Pungwe south of the Zambezi, and the Licungo (Likungo), Ligonha, Lúrio, Montepuez (Montepuesi or Mtepwesi), Messalo (or Msalu), and Ruvuma (or Rovuma) with its affluent the Lugenda (or Lujenda), north of the Zambezi.

In the rainy season the Save is a large stream and even in the "dries" it can be navigated from its mouth by shallow draught steamers for over 240 km (150 mi).

Of the north-Zambezi streams the Licungo, rising in the hills south-east of Lake Chilwa, flows south and enters the ocean not far north of Quelimane.

Irrigated land: 1,181 km2 (456 sq mi) (2003) Total renewable water resources: 217.1 km3 (2011) Natural hazards: severe droughts; devastating cyclones and floods occur in central and southern provinces Environment — current issues: a long civil war and recurrent drought in the hinterlands have resulted in increased migration of the population to urban and coastal areas with adverse environmental consequences; desertification; pollution of surface and coastal waters; elephant poaching for ivory is a problem Environment — international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands Ecoregions This is a list of the extreme points of Mozambique, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.