Ulusaba Private Game Reserve, owned by

Sir Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

as part of the

Virgin Limited Edition Virgin Limited Edition, part of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group of business ventures, is a collection of holiday retreats around the world. Properties Current * ''Kasbah Tamadot'' hotel in Asni, Morocco * ''The Lodge'', a ski lodge in Ver ...

luxury property Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

portfolio, consists of about 13,500 ha of land set in the heart of the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve. This private

game reserve A game reserve (also known as a wildlife preserve or a game park) is a large area of land where wild animals live safely or are hunted in a controlled way for sport. If hunting is prohibited, a game reserve may be considered a nature reserve; ...

borders on the sprawling Kruger National Park in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

's Mpumalanga province and is home to an abundance of wildlife. Ulusaba means fearful in the local Tsonga (Shangaan) language and it was a name given to the

Sabie River The Sabie River is a river in South Africa that forms part of the Komati River System. The catchment area of the Sabie-Sand system is 6,320 km2 in extent. The Sabie is one of the most biologically diverse rivers in South Africa, with general ...

by the

Shangaan Soshangana KaZikode (), born Soshangana Nxumalo, was the Founder and the Monarch of the Gaza Empire, which at the height of its power stretched from the Limpopo river in southern Mozambique up to the Zambezi river in the north. Soshangana rule ...

people. The Sabie River was originally called Ulusaba (''fearful river'') by the Shangaan simply because there was once a large concentration of dangerous

Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern, ...

in the river. Before the establishment of the Kruger National Park, ''Ulusaba'' was once a home of Tsonga-Shangaan people, the Shangaan were evicted from this land when the Kruger National Park was established and were relocated in nearby villages adjacent ''Ulusaba Private Game Reserve''. One of a handful of private

game lodge {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A safari lodge (also known as a game lodge) is a type of tourist accommodation in southern and eastern Africa. Lodges are mainly used by tourists on wildlife safaris, and are typically locat ...

s in the Sabi Sand area, it benefits from the recent removal of fences between private reserves and the greater Kruger National Park. This creates a much larger contiguous body of land available to wildlife in the area. In 2007, the Nxumalo community made a land restitution claim involving 700 km² of nature reserve land. The claimants hope to settle the claim with a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between

and the newly registered ''Nxumalo Conservation Trust''.

Wildlife

Wildlife species include the

Big five game In Africa, the Big Five game animals are the lion, leopard, black rhinoceros, African bush elephant, and African buffalo. They are examples of charismatic megafauna, featuring prominently in popular culture, and are among the most famous of ...

: lion, African bush elephant, African buffalo, leopard and

white rhinoceros The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum'') is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists ...

, as well as a multitude of other mammals such as the

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 '' Lyca ...

, giraffe,

blue wildebeest The blue wildebeest (''Connochaetes taurinus''), also called the common wildebeest, white-bearded gnu or brindled gnu, is a large antelope and one of the two species of wildebeest. It is placed in the genus '' Connochaetes'' and family Bovidae, a ...

, spotted hyena,

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

plains zebra The plains zebra (''Equus quagga'', formerly ''Equus burchellii''), also known as the common zebra, is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. Its range is fragmented, but spans much of southern and eastern Africa south o ...

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

References

External links

Ulusaba Private Game Lodge

{{coord, 24, 47, 42, S, 31, 20, 39, E, type:landmark_region:ZA, display=title, name=Rock Lodge, Ulusaba Protected areas of Mpumalanga Virgin Limited Edition

Wildlife

See also

References

External links