Mokolodi Nature Reserve is a private not-for-profit game reserve in southern

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

. Founded in 1994 by The Mokolodi Wildlife Foundation, it is situated on of donated land, south of the capital

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

. The nature reserve is inhabited by a wide variety of indigenous African game, bird and reptile species, some of which are rare and vulnerable to the threat of extinction. The

southern white rhinoceros The southern white rhinoceros or southern white rhino (''Ceratotherium simum simum'') is one of the two subspecies of the white rhinoceros (the other being the much rarer northern white rhinoceros). It is the most common and widespread subspecie ...

herd at Mokolodi Nature Reserve is part of a national breeding programme, which contributes to the rebuilding of the national herd in Botswana.

Wildlife

The reserve contains many species of wildlife such as

giraffe The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, '' Giraffa camelopardal ...

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...

, mountain reedbuck,

red hartebeest The red hartebeest (''Alcelaphus buselaphus caama''), also called the Cape hartebeest or Caama, is a subspecies of the hartebeest found in Southern Africa. More than 130,000 individuals live in the wild. The red hartebeest is closely related to t ...

gemsbok The gemsbok or South African oryx (''Oryx gazella'') is a large antelope in the genus ''Oryx''. It is native to the extremely dry, arid regions of Southern Africa; notably, the Kalahari Desert. Some authorities formerly classified the East Afr ...

, kudu,

impala The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus ''Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by Ger ...

waterbuck The waterbuck (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus'') is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus '' Kobus'' of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. Its 13 subspecies a ...

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 exta ...

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, ...

brown hyena The brown hyena (''Parahyaena brunnea''), also called strandwolf, is a species of hyena found in Namibia, Botswana, western and southern Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique and South Africa. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Parahyaena' ...

and

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

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 ...

are housed in a large enclosure within the confines of the reserve. There is also a reptile park containing

black mamba The black mamba (''Dendroaspis polylepis'') is a species of highly venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. It is native to parts of sub-Saharan Africa. First formally described by Albert Günther in 1864, it is the second-longest ...

mozambique spitting cobra The Mozambique spitting cobra (''Naja mossambica'') is a highly venomous species of spitting cobra native to Africa. It is largely found in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Taxono ...

puff adder The puff adder (''Bitis arietans'') is a viper species found in savannahs and grasslands from Morocco and western Arabia throughout Africa except for the Sahara and rainforest regions.U.S. Navy. 1991. ''Venomous Snakes of the World''. US Govt. ...

and

snouted cobra The snouted cobra (''Naja annulifera''), also called the banded Egyptian cobra, is a highly venomous species of cobra found in Southern Africa. Description The snouted cobra is a relatively large species. Adult specimens average between in len ...

amongst other species, as well as an aviary with rescued

white-backed vulture The white-backed vulture (''Gyps africanus'') is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is the most common vulture species in the continent of Africa. Description Preening at ...

and

cape vulture The Cape vulture (''Gyps coprotheres''), also known as Cape griffon and Kolbe's vulture, is an Old World vulture in the family '' Accipitridae''. It is endemic to southern Africa, and lives mainly in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, and in some p ...

. The reserve is developed as a game sanctuary with an extensive network of paths, which permits viewing the wildlife at close quarters. The park administration is planning to expand its limits of conservation area up to the Lion Park.

Charity

Environmental and conservation education are the key objectives of The Mokolodi Wildlife Foundation. The nature reserve hosts children from across Botswana, some of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds. The fee-based activity and accommodation services offered to the public by Mokolodi Nature Reserve support the Foundation's charitable objectives, to present the children of Botswana with the opportunity to embrace the natural world and to promote the wider protection of Botswana's natural environment.

References

External links

* Protected areas of Botswana National parks of Botswana Protected areas established in 1994 {{Africa-protected-area-stub