Intricate webs

Timbavati Game Reserve

The Timbavati Private Nature Reserve (TPNR) comprises 53,392 hectares of private land adjoining the Kruger National Park (KNP). Since 1962, the Timbavati Reserve Association, a non profit organisation, has been dedicated to conservation by maintaining the biodiversity of species which would have continued to exist had man never encountered the land. Currently, there are over 40 mammal species in the Timbavati including the Big Five of Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Buffalo and Elephant as well as 360 species of bird life.

Hoedspruit Area

The Timbavati Game Reserve is located in the Limpopo province of South Africa between latitudes 24° 34’ S and 24° 03’ S and longitudes 31° 03’ E and 31° 31’ E.
The Reserve forms part of the Greater Kruger Park and lies nestled between the Kruger National Park on the east, the Klaserie and Umbabat Private Nature Reserves in the north and the Thornybush Private Nature Reserve in the west.

There are no fences between the Timbavati and the Kruger National Park which allows free movement of wildlife between the Reserves. The world-famous Kruger National Park is a conservation area of more than 2,000,000 ha (over 5 million acres).
The southern border of this great complex of public and privately – owned protected land lies close to the Kingdom of Swaziland and abuts the boundaries of Zimbabwe in the north and Mozambique in the east.

Adult Kudu Antelope

The terrain is undulating with altitudes varying between 300 and 500m above sea level. The area is characterised as ‘savanna bushveld’ with 6 different landscape types: acacia woodland, open woodland, mopane woodland, combretum woodland, mixed combretum woodland and mixed veld on Gabbro.

Elephant, buffalo, kudu, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, impala, waterbuck and warthog abound together with their attendant predators which include lion, leopard, cheetah and hyena. The critically endangered African wild dog is also a regular visitor to the Timbavati Reserve.