Mapesu Private Game Reserve is a

game reserve A game reserve (also known as a game park) is a large area of land where wild animals are hunted in a controlled way for sport. If hunting is prohibited, a game reserve may be considered a nature reserve; however, the focus of a game reserve ...

Limpopo Province Limpopo () is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga settlers ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The reserve adjoins the

Mapungubwe National Park Mapungubwe National Park is a national park in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It forms part of the UNESCO Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape and the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area, abutting on the border with Botswana and Zi ...

and World Heritage Site, with which it shares a 12.5 km Northern border. The main entrance gate to the reserve is located approximately 7 km east of Mapungubwe's entrance gate. It was established in 2014 and covers an area of roughly 12,500 hectares. The reserve protects various bird, mammal and tree species and is slated to become part of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area in phase 2 as part of the proposed Limpopo Valley Game Reserve.

Flora and fauna

Vegetation

The numerous habitat types have resulted in high species diversity. Mapesu Private Game Reserve falls within the Savanna bioregion and more specifically the Musina Mopane Bushveld vegetation type according to Mucina & Rutherford (2006). This vegetation type has also been classified as the Mopane Veld Type by Acocks (1953) and as Mopane Bushveld by Low & Rabelo (1996). Its distribution ranges between the Limpopo River and the Soutpansberg Mountain Range and from Baines Drif and Alldays in the west to Masisi and Tshipise in the east. This vegetation type is described by Mucina & Rutherford (2006) as undulating to very irregular plains with open woodland to moderately closed shrubland dominated by Colophospermum mopane on the clayey bottomlands and Combretum apiculatum on the hills. The areas with deep sandy soils are characterised by moderately open savanna, again dominated by Colophospermum mopane.Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C. & Powrie, L.W. (eds) 2007. Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, edn 2, 1:1 000 000 scale sheet maps. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. . Vegetation types are further broken down into more specific plant or vegetation communities. Superficially the Mapesu vegetation seems to be homogenous, however the plant communities are in fact extremely multifarious as a result of the diverse geographical and soil character and the complex system of drainage lines that run through the property. After satellite images and aerial photographs of the area were examined, thorough investigation by road and foot revealed that Mapesu comprises 13 vegetation communities. These were classified on the basis of their dominant plant species, vegetation structure and obvious biophysical and geological features. Apart from the dominant mopane vegetation other tree species also occur, these include the locally distributed vlei thorn, three hook thorn, num num, purple cluster leaf, fever trees,

camel thorn Camelthorn or camel thorn is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Acacia erioloba'', a tree native to southern Africa *''Alhagi ''Alhagi'' is a genus of Old World plants in the family Fabaceae. They are commonly called came ...

sweet thorn ''Vachellia karroo'', (synonym ''Acacia karroo'') commonly known as the sweet thorn, common acacia, Karoo thorn, Cape gum or cockspur thorn, is a species of ''Vachellia'', in the Mimosa sub-family (Mimosoideae) of the Fabaceae or pea family, whi ...

, shepherds tree, illala palm, apple leaf and lead wood amongst many others. There are also some very large

baobab ''Adansonia'' is a genus of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). The eight species of ''Adansonia'' are native to Africa, Australia, and Madagascar but have also been introduced to other regions of the world, including Barb ...

s in the reserve, with one specimen having a circumference of .

Birds

383 bird species have been recorded in Mapesu Private Game Reserve and over 433 species occur in the region. There is a high density of

African hawk-eagle The African hawk-eagle (''Aquila spilogaster'') is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family ''Accipitridae''. This species' feathered legs mark it as a member of the Aquilinae subfamily. The African hawk-eagle breeds in tr ...

in this undulating landscape and other raptors are also prominent. Particularly enticing is an abundance of cuckoo species in summer with up to eleven species being found, including the Diederic cuckoo and

Jacobin cuckoo The Jacobin cuckoo (''Clamator jacobinus''), also pied cuckoo or pied crested cuckoo, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds that is found in Africa and Asia. It is partially migratory and in India, it has been considered a harbinger of the mons ...

. Species typical of the arid western regions of the country (e.g.

southern pied babbler The southern pied babbler (''Turdoides bicolor'') is a species of bird in the family Leiothrichidae, found in dry savannah of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Description The southern pied babbler is a medium-sized cooperatively b ...

crimson-breasted shrike The crimson-breasted shrike (''Laniarius atrococcineus'') or the crimson-breasted gonolek, ('gonolek' - supposedly imitative of its call), or the crimson-breasted boubou, is a southern African bird. It has black upper parts with a white flash on ...

and

black-faced waxbill The black-faced waxbill (''Brunhilda erythronotos'') is a common species of estrildid finch found in southern Africa. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The IUCN has clas ...

) occur alongside species associated with the moister Lowveld habitat of the

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park () is a national park in South Africa covering an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the country's northeast. It extends from north to south and from east to west. The administrative headquarters are i ...

. The

yellow-bellied greenbul The yellow-bellied greenbul (''Chlorocichla flaviventris'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found in eastern, southern and west-central Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, sub ...

, Meve's (long-tailed) starling,

black-backed puffback The black-backed puffback (''Dryoscopus cubla'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Malaconotidae. They are common to fairly common sedentary bushshrikes in various wooded habitats in Africa south of the equator. They restlessly move ...

and

tropical boubou The tropical boubou or bell shrike (''Laniarius aethiopicus'') is a medium-sized passerine bird of sub-Saharan Africa. This very diverse "species" with its numerous subspecies and morphs has since long posed a taxonomic problem, and recent rese ...

can be seen, and

and

Natal spurfowl The Natal spurfowl or Natal francolin (''Pternistis natalensis'') is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is found in Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Taxonomy The Natal spurfowl was described in 1833 ...

(francolin) are very vocal as are orange-breasted and grey-headed bush-shrikes and grey-backed camaroptera (bleating warbler). Several species of owl including barn, African and white-faced scops, Verreaux's (giant) eagle, pearl-spotted and

Pel's fishing owl Pel's fishing owl (''Scotopelia peli'') is a large species of owl in the family Strigidae, found in Africa. It lives near rivers and lakes, and feeds nocturnal animal, nocturnally on fish and frogs snatched from the surface of lakes and rivers. T ...

occur in Mapesu Private Game Reserve. As the

Limpopo River The Limpopo River () rises in South Africa and flows generally eastward through Mozambique to the Indian Ocean. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga settlers led by Hosi Rivombo who settled in the mou ...

serves as the southern boundary for many migrant species certain uncommon migrants to South Africa occur here. The influx of birds during the months of October till March is quite extraordinary. A dam on the reserve plays host to many wetland birds including little bittern,

knob-billed duck The knob-billed duck (''Sarkidiornis melanotos'') or African comb duck is a type of duck found along the tropical/sub-tropical wetlands and waterways of Sub-Saharan Africa and the island of Madagascar, as well as most of South Asia and mainland I ...

black stork The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, t ...

woolly-necked stork The woolly-necked stork has been split into two species: * Asian woolly-necked stork, ''Ciconia episcopus'' * African woolly-necked stork, ''Ciconia microscelis'' {{Short pages monitor