Welgevonden Game Reserve is a South African game reserve with luxurious lodges and guided game drives. It is home to many species, including leopards, elephants, and lions. Conservation efforts include a contraceptive program for elephants and lions.
Welgevonden Game Reserve is a game reserve with many common and rare species, located in the Limpopo province of South Africa. This beautiful reserve features mountains, streams and plains. There is also rock art done by the ancient tribes of the area. It is part of the Waterberg Biosphere, which is part of the larger Waterburg District, a collection of game reserves, a national park and other tourist attractions.
Welgevonden, which means well found in Dutch, was first formed in 1993 as a conservation effort. Visitors can stay in one of several lodges available in the reserve itself. Accommodations are luxurious and include fine dining indoors or out. Guided game drives are also very popular. There is no malaria at Welgevonden Game Reserve.
Many species of animals and birds can be found in the Welgevonden Game Reserve. Some that can be seen include leopards, brown hyenas, elephants, giraffes and blue cranes. There are many conservation efforts that focus on specific species on the game preserve.
From 2008 to 2011, several researches from the University of Pretoria investigated various aspects of the ecology of leopards in Welgevonden Game Reserve compared to leopards elsewhere in the Waterberg Biosphere. The research included diet, home range and information about the leopards themselves. Important prey items for Welgevonden leopards include the impala, piglet and warthog. Farmers in the area are a threat to the leopard population, as they shoot leopards that kill their livestock. In December 2010, the Endangered Wildlife Trust began a program to place dogs as guardians of this livestock, with good results.
The elephant population requires careful control so as not to overwhelm other species or the available food supply. Sometimes elephants are relocated outside the reserve. A contraceptive program was established in 2005. It involves giving female elephants an injection via darts once a year. Four male elephants underwent vasectomy in 2006 in an experimental attempt to slow population growth, making it the first reserve where a successful elephant vasectomy was performed.
Lions also require control, lest they endanger prey populations. A contraceptive program for lions at Welgevonden Game Reserve didn’t work well, so other options were implemented. Allowing the number of males to increase created a competitive environment between the packs. This controls the population because when a new male takes over a pride it kills the cubs. To prevent inbreeding, new males are occasionally added to the Welgevonden population.
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