The Waterberg
A UNESCO Designated Biosphere Reserve Of Sandstone Hills And Bushveld Three Hours From Johannesburg That Is MALARIA FREE, Which Makes It The Closest Genuinely Wild Big Game Country To The City For Anybody Unwilling To Take Prophylaxis With Marakele'S Mountain Section, One Of The Largest Cape Vulture Colonies In The World, And Private Reserves That Have Put Rhino, Elephant And Wild Dog Back · Vaalwater, Limpopo
Three hours north of Johannesburg the highveld drops away and the Waterberg begins - sandstone hills, deep valleys and bushveld across an area the size of a small country, designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The important practical fact is that it is MALARIA-FREE, which makes it the closest genuinely wild big-game country to Johannesburg for anyone unwilling to take prophylaxis, and the reason Gauteng families have been coming here for generations. Most of the game is on private reserves and lodges rather than in a single park, which means you book a place rather than drive a gate; Marakele National Park holds the public section, with a mountain road up to one of the largest Cape vulture colonies in the world. Rhino, elephant, buffalo and wild dog have all been put back by the private reserves over the last forty years. It is quieter and less dramatic than Kruger and far easier to reach, and the sandstone country is handsome in its own right.
In the bushveld 250 km north of Johannesburg around Vaalwater and Marakele, between the Palala and Mokolo rivers, Vaalwater, Limpopo, South Africa
Marakele National Park keeps daylight hours with a SANParks conservation fee and includes the mountain road up to the vulture colony viewpoint, which is steep, tarred and worth the drive. THE REST OF THE WATERBERG IS PRIVATE RESERVES AND LODGES, so access there is on a booking rather than at a gate - the row says so because people arrive looking for a single park entrance. UNESCO BIOSPHERE DESIGNATION IS NOT A WORLD HERITAGE INSCRIPTION; it is a different programme, and this row does not claim the latter. Lodges run their own game drives, walks and horse safaris and book out in South African school holidays and long weekends. THE AREA IS MALARIA-FREE. Vaalwater is the service town for fuel and shops. Johannesburg is about three hours by good tar via Modimolle, and some lodges have airstrips.