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  • Malaria-free game reserve
  • Overlooks the winding Great Fish River
  • Nine luxurious glass and thatch suites
  • Separate, historic six-bed farmhouse
  • Unique, sub-tropical thicket vegetation
  • Rich 1820 Settler-history
  • Thousands of wild animals
  • Big Five game
  • A haven for endangered animals
  • Thousands of ancient rock paintings in the region
  • Game drives, guided river walks, bush sundowners and picnics
 
     
 
One of the continent's southernmost game reserves lies in the heart of South Africa's Eastern Cape; a district rich in history and blessed with abundant natural beauty.

 
Kwandwe Private Game Reserve stretches along 42 kilometres of the Great Fish River and each of the luxurious glass and thatch suites overlooks its lush riverbanks. It is a river of great historical significance, as it was a hotly contested border during the Frontier Wars of 1779-1878 between the Settlers (and the Dutch farmers) and the Xhosa nation.

The river has created a flourishing habitat for rare and endangered species like the Blue Crane. Kwandwe aptly means "Place of the Blue Crane" in Xhosa and the reserve is home to a stable population of these beautiful birds.
 
The 15 800 hectare reserve is set on the edge of the former Karoo Basin where several of Africa's vegetation zones converge and biodiversity is therefore extremely rich. The Kwandwe landscape is dominated by valley bushveld on open plains and rolling hills, with succulent euphorbias, aloes and spekboom among the characteristic plants. Thousands of animals, including the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) have been reintroduced to roam the reserve, which is also a haven for endangered animals and birds and numerous programmes to support them have been introduced.
 
Famous artist and explorer Thomas Baines writes in his Journal of Residence in Africa 1842-1853 of the extraordinary beauty of the region, as well as "the dense jungles of the Zuureberg and the Fish and other rivers were filled with herds of elephants when the Settlers arrived in 1820."

The region is steeped in history and culture, which stretches back thousands of years to the San and Khoi peoples. They have left a legacy of rock paintings, artefacts and stone tools that are of great cultural importance. Visit the first Homo sapiens site in the Cape in the Valley of the Ancient Voices. Following the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820, a whole new culture was introduced to the region.
 
The touch of the 1820 Settlers is everywhere - from the beautiful architecture and art in towns like Grahamstown and Fort Beaufort to the colonial furniture and fittings that were brought to manor houses.

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