Wildlife plays a fundamental role in Ka’Ingo’s tourism efforts and so game hunting and poaching on the property is strictly prohibited. As one of only two Big Five game reserves in the region that are open to the public, Ka’Ingo boasts more than 4000 head of game representing approximately 35 species (including the Big Five and three new Cheetahs), 350 bird species and diverse plant life. To avoid exceeding the Reserve’s carrying capacity, which would have detrimental ecological effects for the region, the team takes great care to introduce only animals that exist naturally in the Waterberg. The two forms of wildlife management applied at Ka’Ingo are “game naturally roaming the reserve” and “intensive game farming” such as the Sable and Clean Buffalo Breeding Programmes. The Reserve’s intensive game farming is a financial conservation effort that covers operational costs and the re-introduction of rare endemic game to the property, such as Simchelle, Ilka and Matthew, the recently introduced Cheetahs. Passionate about Ka’Ingo and serious about their work there, the Ka’Ingo team does not, under any circumstances, compromise the Game Reserve’s ethics concerning any form of fauna or flora which they deem to be the reserve’s foundation.

With no permanent water sources, Ka’Ingo relies solely on ground water supplies which they draw from boreholes located in ecologically correct areas on the 8 700-hectare property where maximum gain is achieved and chances of dams and other catchments drying up are minimized. Water and borehole management is, therefore, integral to the Game Reserve’s tourism and wildlife management practices and involves the collection of rain water through a system of dams and catchments. A water reticulation system has also been installed to achieve this important goal. The airfield at Ka’Ingo is, for example, irrigated in a way that minimizes wind drift and therefore wastage and loss of water. This may seem like limitations to some, but this very fact makes Ka’Ingo a perfect location for “bushveld survival” team-building sessions where participants are encouraged to live off the offerings of Mother Nature and work together to “stay alive” - supervised by the Reserve’s expert game Rangers of course.

The Waterberg Region was declared a protected reserve by UNESCO in 2001 and lies at an altitude of 830m to 2085m above sea level. This malaria-free region is located very close to Gauteng Province, South Africa’s city of gold and economic hub. The Biosphere has very little forestry, mining, industry and attendant pollution, and thus serves as a water reservoir for the Lower Limpopo Basin. Its four main drainage rivers are the Laphalala, Matlaba, Mogalakwena and Mokolo Rivers.

The Waterberg Biosphere is characterized by tropical grasslands, wetlands, sandstone escarpments, savannah plains and scenic mountain ranges with passes into the Palala Plateau. Its plant life includes the African Beechwood (Faurea saligna), Common Hookthorn (Acacia caffra), Red Seringa (Burkea africana, Terminalia sericea and Peltophorum africanum), the famed Pear Tree which the Sotho people of the region believe is a rain-maker and the Silver Cluster Leaf tree which contains curing properties for Bilharzia. Most of the plant life species can be found at the 5-star Ka’Ingo Private Reserve & Spa in the region. From East to West, the Waterberg region covers approximately 14 500km2 – almost the size of Botswana’s Okavango Delta.

The Waterberg region has an unemployment rate of 61%, showing minimal economic activity. This is primarily because very few people live there, and those that do rely primarily on crop and cattle farming. Despite the current economic statistics, the Waterberg community continues to promote new and more conservation-related tourism activities, such as game farming, to increase investment and work opportunities in the region. Various land plots in the Waterberg are also being re-instated to black communities to ensure the continuation of their ancestral legacies as new land owners and their participation in the economic development of the region.

• Richelle reaches for the Stars
• Chipping with Charl Schwartzel
• Dinkweng Decor
• Eco Tourism