About Madikwe Game Reserve

Madikwe Game Reserve lies in the far north of South Africa's North West Province, against the Botswana border, roughly 350 km and about four hours by road from Johannesburg or Pretoria. At around 75 000 hectares it is one of the largest game reserves in South Africa, and it is entirely malaria free.

Madikwe has the distinction of being one of the few game reserves in the world to be proclaimed purely on the grounds that conservation was the most appropriate and sustainable land use for the area. Rather than being set aside for its scenery, it was set aside because the sums showed that wildlife would do more for the land and for the people living around it than cattle ever had.

The reserve is run as a joint venture between the State, the private sector and the local communities. The success of that model has made Madikwe a template for similar ventures elsewhere in South Africa, and several of the lodges inside the reserve are community owned.

Madikwe is home to 66 large mammal species, including the Big Five, and around 300 resident and migrant bird species. There are no day visitors and no self-drive game viewing: guests stay at one of the reserve's lodges and go out with the lodge's own guides, which keeps vehicle numbers at a sighting low.