Warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) young males fighting

The Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is a privately owned game reserve in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

, South Africa. It is South Africa's largest private game reserve, covering an area of over 111,000 hectares.

History

The Tswalu Game Reserve in the Southern Kalahari was created by Stephen Boler. He bought dozens of farms to create a conservation reserve, introducing African wildlife back into their natural habitat, including lions, rare types of antelope, giraffes, buffalos, and zebras. The reserve is home to the world's largest population of black rhinos. To control the numbers and create a form or revenue to support the estate, there was a controversial hunting side called Tarkuni. After Stephen Boler's untimely death in 1998 on his way to Tswalu, he specified in his will that

Nicky Oppenheimer Nicholas F. Oppenheimer (born 8 June 1945) is a South African billionaire businessman. He was formerly the chairman of De Beers diamond mining company and of its subsidiary, the Diamond Trading Company, and former deputy chairman of Anglo Ame ...

should have first refusal on Tswalu, and the Oppenheimer family now owns and operates it. Hunting was stopped by the Oppenheimers and some man-made structures, farm buildings and fences were removed. New land was added to extend and protect habitats and territories. Tswalu now holds the largest population of black rhino alongside other threatened species like the

pangolin Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (, from Ancient Greek ϕολιδωτός – "clad in scales"). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', '' Phataginus'', and '' Smut ...

and

canid Canidae (; from Latin, '' canis'', " dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found withi ...

African wild dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Ly ...

Tswalu Kalahari (lodge)

Tswalu Kalahari is a luxury private lodge in the reserve, a member of

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

br>Unique Lodges of the World
There are nine suites at the Motse Lodge, with the private Tarkuni having five suites.

Big Five game

The reserve boasts four of the ' big five', the exception being elephant.

Conservation

Tswalu Kalahari reserve is part of the Diamond Route. The conservation work of Nicky and Strilli Oppenheimer was recognized with the WWF-Lonmin Award from the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

in 2007.

References

Game reserves of South Africa Protected areas of the Northern Cape {{NorthernCape-geo-stub