Pongola Game Reserve

Falling from the heights of the Lebombo Mountains down across the Phongolopoort Dam to typical African savannah in the west, this reserve is the oldest proclaimed conservation area in Africa.

Proclaimed in 1894 by President Paul Kruger and reproclaimed in 1903, ostensively to protect declining game numbers, but in reality as a stratagy for the old Transvaal Republic to gain access to the sea, the reserve contains a large number of special ecosystems and habitats. These include the unique veld type called Golela, which is an important Suni antelope breeding habitat.

The oldest proclaimed conservation area

[Click for bigger area map]

Pongola Game Reserve is a co-operative conservation project between private landowners, tribal communities and government conservation services, and aims to form the heart of a large ecological and socio-economically viable "Big Five" reserve.

Allied to this quest the "Space for Elephant" Foundation has been formed to realise the goal of a biosphere large enough to viably sustain an elephant population of a thousand elephants and allow the re-establishment of the ancient elephant migration routes.

The area boasts a bird list of over 300 species and a range of plains game including white rhino, giraffe, blue wildebeest, kudu, impala, nyala, warthog, waterbuck, common and mountain reedbuck and zebra.

The dam has large populations of hippos and crocodiles and fish species that include tigerfish, the focus of a number of fishing competitions through the year.