Madikwe is the country’s fourth-largest reserve, covering 760 sq km of bushveld, savannah grassland and riverine forest on the edge of the Kalahari. It offers Big Five wildlife watching and dreamy lodging among striking (and malaria-free) red sand and clay thorn bushveld.
Madikwe does not allow self-drive safaris or day visitors, which means you must stay at one of its 16 lodges to explore the reserve. Experiencing Madikwe isn’t cheap, but you get what you pay for at these exclusive bush hideaways.
The animals have become used to the sturdy open-sided jeeps and don’t view them as a threat. So when your guide pulls up to a herd of buffalo and cuts the engine, you usually have time to snap some good shots without your subjects tearing off. Rangers also communicate via radio with the other drivers in the reserve, so if a family of lions napping in the shade of a thorn tree, or a bull elephant in musk, pursuing a female, is spotted nearby, your driver will hear about it. Restrictions on driving off road are minimal and the jeeps are tough enough to tackle most terrain, getting you close to the animals.
Madikwe was formed in 1991 with a dual mandate to protect endangered wildlife and to use sustainable tourism initiatives to create jobs for the poor, remotely located local people. A massive translocation operation reintroduced more than 10,000 once-indigenous animals, whose numbers had been depleted by hunting and farming. The operation took more than seven years to complete, with animals (including entire herds of elephants) being flown or driven in from other Southern African reserves. Madikwe, run as a joint venture between the North West Parks & Tourism Board, the private sector and local communities, has ultimately provided the promised jobs, as well as a home for healthy numbers of all the Big Five, a flourishing population of endangered African wild dogs and 350-plus bird species.
