{"id":4523,"date":"2018-01-15T19:14:34","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T18:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=4523"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:13:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T13:13:40","slug":"madikwe-game-reserve-one-of-south-africas-best-kept-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=4523","title":{"rendered":"Madikwe Game Reserve – One of South Africa’s Best Kept Secrets!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For most people, going on a safari is the trip of a lifetime.\u00a0 And there are numerous well-known game parks and reserves, in many African countries, where you can do just that.\u00a0 But if you decide to take the plunge and see the amazing animals and landscape most people only get to see in coffee table books or on nature documentaries, going to the most well-known and\/or popular reserve may not be your best choice.<\/p>\n

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We’ve had the good fortune to live in southern Africa for a few years now and have learned that there’s quite a variety of options.\u00a0 Most southern African capitals have one or two parks just outside the capital – these are often little more than glorified zoos; sure, the animals are not penned in, but they’re clearly tame – the guides summon them by surreptitiously sprinkling food, you get your photos and you can check the box – great if you’re pressed for time and want to be sure and see something.<\/p>\n

There are also the wild, remote places that have been preserved as national parks, where the animals are still truly “wild.”\u00a0 These places are important for conservation, but if you go as a tourist, it can be frustrating if you’ve shelled out thousands of dollars and don’t wind up seeing much – maybe because it’s the rainy season and the animals aren’t particularly pressed to gather at the watering holes.<\/p>\n

South Africa has a few really well-known reserves you can get to relatively easily and see plenty of wildlife – but we’ve found they are so popular you find yourself competing with all the other visitors.\u00a0 The guides are all communicating by radio, and the second someone spots, say, a lion kill, the word gets passed and suddenly you’re one of a dozen SUVs crowding around an animal and can’t get a decent photo that doesn’t have other tourists or cars on it.<\/p>\n

Madikwe Game Reserve<\/a> was a pleasant surprise, in that it wasn’t at all crowded, we managed to see an amazing number of animals – to include every member of the “Big Five”<\/a>\u00a0plus<\/em> as a bonus, a pack of wild African dogs.\u00a0 The guides worked together to ensure there were only a couple of vehicles at a time at any one site, and you could tell that they were all motivated for their love of the animals and were interested in sharing that passion with us.<\/p>\n

The reserve is in the extreme north of South Africa, buttressed against the border with Botswana.\u00a0 Apparently it was unproductive farmland, so the government decided to set it aside as a game reserve – South Africa’s fifth largest and one of its least-known.\u00a0 There are a handful of lodges scattered throughout the park, but none so close that you see any of the others.\u00a0 Gaborone is just 30 km away or you can drive the 400km from Johannesburg; but we were a bit pressed for time and open to adventure, so we hired a small charter plane that landed us on the small airstrip in the reserve.<\/p>\n

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Apparently the way this works is, these little planes buzz the airstrip to scare off any errant wildlife, then come around on the second pass.\u00a0 I didn’t know this and was surprised when we didn’t land.\u00a0 The second time, there really was<\/em> wildlife on the airstrip and I was relieved when we pulled up again at tha last minute.\u00a0 You can see the wayward warthog in the center of the photo below.\"\"<\/a>We were staying at Madikwe Hills Lodge<\/a> – a bit of a splurge for us, but we were celebrating a late anniversary.\u00a0 The attention to detail by the lodge was like nothing we’ve ever experienced.\u00a0 The guests were all on a set schedule of meals and twice-daily game drives, but nothing felt scripted – it was all completely natural and everything was looked after and the food always fantastic.\u00a0 We were there in the cooler season (meaning fewer guests!) so the early morning game drive (departed in the dark) and the late afternoon game drive (returned in the dark) were pretty chilly – but made much better by the thick blankets and hot water bottles thoughtfully provided for us!\u00a0 There’s a poor guy who has to sit out on a chair on the front of the vehicle who acts as a “spotter” for unseen obstacles and wildlife, and he had it rough – but did a great job.
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Giraffes are not one of the “big 5″…but they are big.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>How old is too old for breastfeeding?<\/em><\/p>\n

As noted earlier, we’ve been to a lot of game parks in southern Africa.\u00a0 Despite the scrubby-looking nondescript terrain of the park, no park we’ve visited comes close to this one in terms of the number of animals – big animals – we spotted.\u00a0 We’ll start with the lions.\u00a0 But we came across a pride of them as the sun was edging toward the horizon, and they couldn’t be bothered with us.\u00a0 Which is different from other reserves, where you definitely need to be inside an enclosed vehicle.\u00a0 So yeah,\u00a0I’ll admit, they were a bit “tame” – but it was a thrill to see them this close up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Despite the calm demeanor, this guy has been in some scraps in his time!<\/em><\/p>\n

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