Picture: Madikwe Game Reserve
By BAKANG MOKOTO
10 October 2026 – Situated on the border with Botswana close to the Kalahari Desert, Madikwe Game Reserve is the fifth-largest game reserve in South Africa.
As one of the lesser-known reserves, this hidden gem is regarded as one of the best conservation areas in Africa and offers visitors a Big 5 safari experience over 750km².
Roughly a 4.5-hour drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria, Madikwe offers a number of luxurious lodges as well as community lodges in a malaria-free zone. Let Madikwe Travel Experts assist you with planning your perfect holiday.
As accommodation specialists with many years of experience, their team will help create your dream wilderness experience. Before Madikwe was an official game reserve, work had already begun to remove many of the derelict farm buildings, non-indigenous plants and the hundreds of kilometres of old fencing.
Many of these old buildings have been spared and turned into workshops and park offices. Some of the outposts have also been left and are being used to house reserve staff and game scouts.
The area where Madikwe Game Reserve stands today was previously farming land, used for farming cattle and arable agriculture.
The farming culture in the area was largely a failure, due to bad farming practices and mismanagement and the vegetation had degraded to unusable levels.
This land has been opened up to a few select private farms. The farm owners are required to abide by Parks Board rules as there are still restrictions as to where private vehicles can drive.
Other developments include community lodges that are run by local villages. The profits from these community lodges are then used to uplift local communities.
Madikwe Game Reserve consists of vast open plains of woodlands and grasslands. The reserve is bisected by the rugged Rant van Tweedepoort and is bordered in the south by the Dwarsberg Mountains.
It has been enclosed in a 150km perimeter electric fence to protect larger animals. The famous Mafikeng Road runs through the area and was a historical route long before the reserve was established.
Its path was used by traders, missionaries and explorers. King Mzilikazi of the Matebele tribe passed through the Madikwe area many years ago on his way to expanding the Matebele kingdom.
In 1991, the reserve was announced to the public and in the same year became part of the Board’s Estate on October 31. Before this the remote and economically dejected area needed upliftment and it was decided after a feasibility study that wildlife-based tourism was the most favourable option for the area.
It is one of the few game reserves in the world that has been established on the grounds of being the most sustainable and suitable land use in the area.
