Willem Pretorius Game Reserve is the largest

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; ...

in the

Lejweleputswa District Municipality Lejweleputswa ( Sesotho word meaning "Grey rock" in English) is one of the 5 districts of Free State province of South Africa. The seat of Lejweleputswa is Welkom. The majority of its 657 019 people speak Sotho (2001 Census). The district code is ...

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 ...

, encircling the

Allemanskraal Dam The Allemanskraal Dam is a dam in the Free State (South African province), Free State province of South Africa, on the Sand River (Free State), Sand River. It was established in 1960. The reservoir has a gross capacity of , and a surface area of ...

. The Sand River flows from east to west through the reserve. It was opened to the public in 1961 and covers .

Climate

The reserve receives an annual rainfall of 560 mm on average, mostly falling from December to February during heavy thunderstorms. Frost occurs on 40 nights per year, the average temperature in the winter is 15° C and in the summer the mercury exceeds 30° C often.

Mammals in the reserve

Taurotragus oryx.jpg, Eland White Rhino.jpg,

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 ...

Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis.jpg, Giraffe Antidorcas marsupialis.jpg,

Springbok The springbok (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is a medium-sized antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first described by the German zoologist Eberhard August Wilhelm ...

Burchell's Zebra (Etosha).jpg, Burchell's Zebra Black Wildebeest.jpg,

Black wildebeest The black wildebeest or white-tailed gnu (''Connochaetes gnou'') is one of the two closely related wildebeest species. It is a member of the genus '' Connochaetes'' and family Bovidae. It was first described in 1780 by Eberhard August Wilhelm ...

References

Protected areas of the Free State (province) Nature reserves in South Africa {{FreeState-geo-stub