There are really two types of private game reserves in South Africa.
There is on one hand something more akin to a “zoo”, where the main focus is on wildlife that most visitors want to tick off on their bucket list, and then move on.
And then there are nature sanctuaries, where the focus lies on nature and not on the tourist as a primal point of focus. And that actually, in my eyes, means a much more sophisticated, richer and many times more real experience for our guests. And our reserve, I am proud to say, is definitely one of those. This is a place for real safari connoisseurs.
The thing is, if you have too many lions on your reserve, then it will negatively impact the numbers of many other rare and beautiful species (such as wild dogs, cheetahs, and many other predators), as lions will push them out. It is all about the right balance!
It is this careful and wise wildlife management (and mostly just letting nature taking its own course) that has led to the sort of wildlife scope and depth that is truly inspiring. It is hard to find a reserve where you have a good chance to see all cats, including the rarest of all, the cheetah, as you do here. And if you want to see Wild Dogs, well, you might look for them for a lifetime and never see one. But here we see them almost every week, and for a true nature conservationist, that’s a shockingly high rate of sightings. There are only 2000 specimen left in this world, on the entire African continent, which is larger than North America, Latin America and Europe COMBINED! So you can imagine. I’d prefer to look for the proverbial needle in the haystack instead, to be honest. But here, you get the opportunity to see and witness these super rare animals in their natural habitat, roaming around freely, and living their lives. And after having seen them den and raise pups several times successfully on our reserve over the last years, we are now proud to say that this reserve is one of the key sanctuaries which will, hopefully, lead to the long-term survival of this most interesting and intriguing specie. Wild dogs need perfect nature conditions: space, prey, disease-free environment (no Tb!), and a good bush density and availability to help them hunt. They get it all here, and that means that this reserve has succeeded where all too many reserves fail: true nature conservation.
Our ranger and guests saw the Wild Dogs again yesterday, here some of the best photos taken. It doesn’t get any more up-close. Well done, what a sighting!
