Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, Africa

Luxury Private Game Reserve in South Africa Promotes Conservation

Aug 30, 2007

Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in South Africa is owned by the well-known Oppenheimer family and gives a new meaning the phrase - luxury private game reserve.

In the Kalahari, the thornveld and sweeping sand dunes are home to some of the world's most fascinating wildlife. It is here that travelers will find Tswalu Kalahari Reserve - the most extensive private game reserve in South Africa, owned by the well-known Oppenheimer family.

The word 'Tswalu' is a Tswana word meaning 'new beginning'. And this African safari resort is so exclusive that only 30 people at a time are allowed to visit this game reserve located on the largest private concession in Southern Africa.

Luxury private game reserve accommodation and activities

Of course Tswalu Kalahari Reserve boasts the ultimate in luxury private game reserve accommodation. The Motse (Tswana for 'village'), designed to blend inconspicuously into the surrounding mountains, consists of eight spacious legaes (Tswana for 'homes').

Being a private game reserve, the main activity at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is game watching from the private game viewing vehicle or guided walks or horseback trails across the red Kalahari dunes.

With activities like these one can almost predict that deluxe facilities will include a well stocked private wine cellar, private plane, high powered telescope (for star gazing), a private chef, a library and a host of other luxuries.

Tswalu Kalahari Reserve's game stock includes lion, leopard, hyena, kudu, nyala, eland, buffalo, waterbuck, tssesebe, wildebeest, kudu, impala, black and white rhino, zebra, cheetah and much more.

Other Tswalu game reserve activities

Star gazing is big at Tswalu. hot air ballooning too and as Tswalu Kalahari Reserve’s philosophy is "to restore the Kalahari to itself" that is precisely what the therapists of The Sanctuary at Tswalu will do with the guests who come to them for treatment at the luxury spa.

Private game reserve is bird watchers’ paradise

Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is known across the world as an excellent place for bird watching with more than 200 species of birds some of them indigenous to the arid zone, found in the varying habitats of the reserve. Raptors and in particular, vultures, are very well represented. The most abundant species are the white-backed vulture and the lappet-faced vulture.

Tswalu provides a refuge and suitable habitat for vultures and is attracting more and more birds to the area. The game reserve participates in the monitoring program of the Kalahari Raptor Project.

Nicky and Strilli Oppenheimer receive the Lonmin Award

In fact, Tswalu owners, Nicky and Strilli Oppenheimer, were recently jointly presented with the prestigious World Wildlife Fund (WWF) - Lonmin Award for environmental conservation.

The Lonmin Award was presented to the Oppenheimer’s for their active support of conservation projects, aiming to foster the biodiversity of South Africa's mammals, birds, invertebrates (insects), fish and reptiles and vegetation. It highlighted the establishment last May, of the Diamond Birding Route on the many conservation areas surrounding De Beers mines and on Oppenheimer properties in South Africa

Walking with Meerkats in the Kalahari

A stay at Tswalu is a great opportunity to observe Meerkats in their natural habitat in the Kalahari in South Africa. At Van Zyl’s Rus (approximately 70km to the west of Tswalu in the Kalahari) a group of biologists from Cambridge and Pretoria are investigating the cooperative behavior of Suricata suricatta also known as the Meerkat. This Meerkat Project has habituated ten separate groups which can be observed from only a few feet away.

This Meerkat Project has featured in several recent films of meerkats, including Animal Planet’s very popular Meerkat Manor.

Tswalu Kalahari Game Reserve - Conservation Champion

Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is justly proud of the success of its ongoing conservation projects in the game reserve, with the founder population of 7 000 animals having grown to more than 12 000 in the short space of five years.