Choose your country and language:

Africa

  • Global
  • Angola
  • Botswana
  • DRC
  • Ethiopia
  • Ghana
  • Kenya
  • Malawi
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Nigeria
  • South Africa
  • Tanzania
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
  • shotLeft

Americas

  • USA
  • Argentina
  • Brazil

Asia Pacific

  • China
  • India
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • Australia

Europe

  • France
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • United Kingdom
Back

MMadikwe Game Reserve, one of South Africa’s foremost Big Five malaria-free reserves, was envisaged not by conservationists, but by economists. They found conservation would create more income and jobs than the existing land-use, which was cattle-farming. This successful reserve is now a model that has inspired South African conservation.

Madikwe Game Reserve, right up against the Botswana border in the North West province, is a strange anomaly in the world of conservation.

It was transformed from a number of low-yield cattle farms into a high-yield conservation area. This was not land chosen by ecologists for its rare vegetation or animals. It was chosen by economists because they found that a game reserve here would generate more jobs and money than any other land-use option. Madikwe is now a model of the way conservation can benefit communities.

Another remarkable factor is that this was pioneered in 1991, within one of South Africa’s apartheid-era Bantustans – Bophuthatswana – which was reintegrated into the country in 1994.

Did You Know?
AA conservation corridor is envisaged, that will eventually join the Madikwe and Pilanesberg game reserves.

OOn paper it seemed idealistic. Yet in practice it worked. Bop Parks launched Operation Phoenix in 1991. By 1997, it had brought in more than 8000 individual animals, the largest translocation of its kind in the world. Several private companies set up very successful bush lodges within the 75 000-hectare park. And the three villages around Madikwe – Supingstad, Lekgophung and Molatedi – are doing very well.

Madikwe Game Reserve, North West

Food
When to visit
How to get here

WWomen are particularly empowered – a high proportion of them are employed in the park. Social and financial upliftment aside, Madikwe is now better known as one of the best places to see the Big Five, and it also has the advantage of being malaria free. Madikwe is seen as a model of the benefits that conservation can bring.

You may not be in an exclusive private game reserve (it's actually a provincial game reserve), but you’ll feel as if you are – the experience is almost indistinguishable. The only difference is that you might catch a special sense of pride from some of the people you encounter in and around the park.

Who to contact
How to get there
Best time to visit
Around the area
Length of stay
Where to stay
What to eat

Related articles

Breathtaking scenery

Khosi Tyobeka, Zimase Travel

Breathtaking scenery
Khosi Tyobeka, Zimase Travel

Khosi Tyobeka has built her business around making travelling easy and accessible. Her company, Zimasa Travel, provides tailor-made travel solutions; from planning to the execution of travel or conference needs. The award winning entrepreneur’s flair for business runs in her family. When she was growing up her mother operated a food business in their small village in the North West Province .

Breathtaking scenery

Millicent Shai: Founder and owner of Thaba Legae Guest Lodge

Breathtaking scenery
Millicent Shai: Founder and owner of Thaba Legae Guest Lodge

When one thinks of tourism in South Africa, the North West Province and its Magaliesberg mountain range and lush bushes come to mind. Not new to leisure and travel, the province has always held its baton, offering the famous Sun City resort and its surrounding holiday destinations. The province’s natural beauty has always added to the allure.

Breathtaking scenery

South African Tourism - Heritage Day

Breathtaking scenery
South African Tourism - Heritage Day

Feast your eyes, feed your soul and be inspired by South Africa in full bloom… South Africa is unique. It is one country in the world where one can weave a vibrant tapestry of culture and heritage from the many and varied attractions, experiences and influences that permeate daily living.

Wildlife safari

Thakadu River Camp in Madikwe Game Reserve: conservation uplifting local communities in North West and Limpopo.

Wildlife safari
Thakadu River Camp in Madikwe Game Reserve: conservation uplifting local communities in North West and Limpopo.

Thakadu River Camp is a Fair Trade Tourism-certified, 5-star lodge in Madikwe Game Reserve, a malaria-free park that brings social and financial benefits to the local Tlokwa community that owns it.

Wildlife safari

Pilanesberg National Park, North West: spot the Big 5 in an extinct volcano

Wildlife safari
Pilanesberg National Park, North West: spot the Big 5 in an extinct volcano

Pilanesberg National Park in North West, a short drive from Pretoria or Jo’burg, has many species of plants, birds and animals to delight visitors, including the Big 5 and sable antelopes.

Wildlife safari

The Barberspan Bird Sanctuary in North West: winter waterfowl haven just a few hours’ drive from Johannesburg

Wildlife safari
The Barberspan Bird Sanctuary in North West: winter waterfowl haven just a few hours’ drive from Johannesburg

Barberspan Bird Sanctuary 3 hours from Johannesburg in North West province is a utopia for birders and ornithological researchers: it is the seasonal home to 20 000 or more birds from 350 species.

Wildlife safari

In the footsteps of forefathers – Taung Heritage Route, North West

Wildlife safari
In the footsteps of forefathers – Taung Heritage Route, North West

Taung Heritage Route is part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and includes the site where a 2.5-million-year-old fossilised skull of a hominid child was found.

Wildlife safari

Tau Spa at the Madikwe Game Reserve

Wildlife safari
Tau Spa at the Madikwe Game Reserve

The Tau Game Lodge in the Madikwe bushveld has a world-class spa offering a variety of treatments and packages where you can relax and rejuvenate in an oasis of tranquillity.

South Africa on social media

Copyright © 2023 South African Tourism
|Terms and conditions|Disclaimer|Privacy policy