The Manyeleti Game Reserve is situated in the east of the
Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...
province of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. The game reserve is managed by the Mpumalanga Provincial Government and is over 22,750 ha in area.
Location
Manyeleti lies directly adjacent to the
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends from north to south and from ea ...
(without fences), with the
Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve to its south and the
Timbavati Game Reserve
The Timbavati Private Nature Reserve is located at the border line between Hoedspruit (in Limpopo) and Acornhoek (in Mpumalanga), north of the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve on the western edge of Kruger National Park. Geographically and poli ...
to its northwest. In
Xitsonga
Tsonga () or Xitsonga ( ''Xitsonga'') as an endonym, is a Bantu language spoken by the Tsonga people of southern Africa. It is mutually intelligible with Tswa and Ronga and the name "Tsonga" is often used as a cover term for all three, als ...
, 'Manyeleti' means "Place of Stars".
During the night, the skyline of Manyeleti is dominated by billions of bright stars, hence the name.
Political history
During the Apartheid years, the central government designated Manyeleti as a game reserve for exclusive use by the
Bantu's of the country, hoping that this arrangement would satisfy black South Africans' aspirations to a Game Reserve of their own.
[ Five hunting ranches were purchased by the Department of Bantu Affairs and opened in 1967.][
The ]Tsonga people
The Tsonga people ( ts, Vatsonga) are a Bantu ethnic group primarily native to Southern Mozambique and South Africa (Limpopo and Mpumalanga). They speak Xitsonga, a Southern Bantu language.
A very small number of Tsonga people are also found i ...
, who occupied the land before colonization, were given visiting rights to this area. Currently the Tsonga tribe under the leadership of the Mnisi and Mathebula tribes are in a process of reclaiming the land from which they were forcibly removed.
See also
* Protected areas of South Africa
The protected areas of South Africa include national parks and marine protected areas managed by the national government, public nature reserves managed by provincial and local governments, and private nature reserves managed by private landow ...
References
External links
Manyeleti website
{{Authority control
Nature reserves in South Africa