Madikwe | RAW Photographic

GAME RESERVE, SOUTH AFRICA

MADIKWE

Area Highlights

Madikwe lies in a transition zone between the Kalahari thornveld and the Lowveld bushveld, where a unique array of wildlife share territory
Home to a large and varied array of animals including the Big Five plus cheetah, the African wild dog, aardwolf and brown hyena
Every changing ecosystems and landscapes with distant hills as backdrops
Malaria free location

About Madikwe

A jumble of rocky hills and mountains, seasonal wetlands, wide savannah and bushveld-covered plateaus, Madikwe Game Reserve attracts wildlife big and small. Here, you can see the Big Five, packs of wild dog and more than 300 bird species on daily game drives.

Situated in northwest South Africa, close to the Botswana border, Madikwe is the country’s fifth-largest game reserve. It’s also malaria-free, yet it sees far fewer visitors than the Kruger and Eastern Cape reserves. It’s not uncommon to have wildlife sightings all to yourself, be it a pride of lion lounging in the shade, a multi-generational herd of elephant splashing into a waterhole, or wild dog warming up for their evening hunt.

While you’re out exploring the reserve, you’ll pass through a wide range of landscapes. In the west, the rocky terrain is interspersed with patches of grassland and wildflowers. Dense bushland and open grassy plains dominate the east. Then, throughout the reserve, you’ll find more arid pockets of sand and clay close to the Limpopo River, where you can frequently spot bee-eaters, pied kingfishers and fish eagles.

Madikwe hasn’t always been a game reserve. Its healthy wildlife population stems from a major game relocation that took place during the 1990s, when 8,000 animals were moved to this former farming area for protection. Madikwe is also an example of community-based wildlife conservation, where the land is managed and funded in a way that benefits both the wildlife and local communities.

Operation Phoenix

When the Madikwe Game Reserve was established in South Africa it precipitated Operation Phoenix, the largest trans-location of wildlife by humans on earth, a feat that still holds the record today.

Over a period of seven years more than 8000 animals were re-introduced onto the once devastated land for the purpose of establishing an economically viable wildlife sanctuary for the benefit of local communities in the area.

So successful was Operation phoenix that the park authorities are now able to donate and sell wildlife to other parks and reserves around southern Africa. In fact Madikwe has the second largest elephant population in South Africa after Kruger Park and the Wild Dog breeding programme in Madikwe is world renowned.

Wild Dog Success

The translocation of Wild Dogs to Madikwe Game Reserve began in 1994. There are between 3 000 and 5 000 of this highly endangered species left in the world, and they can be found only in the larger reserves or uninhabited regions of Southern and Eastern Africa.

Since then Madikwe Game Reserve has gone to great lengths to ensure the welfare of its Wild Dog clans and foster their progress which has veered from the successful introduction of new Wild Dogs from other reserves to downright treacherous with some devastating losses suffered due to infighting, lion attacks, and rabies.

Despite Africa’s Wild Dog population dwindling because of susceptibility to disease, the loss of natural habitat, and their unfortunate persecution by humans, the intensive push to conserve and protect these amazing animals means there is hope for future generations.