Manketi Game Reserve
Manketti Lodge is situated in the Manketti Game Reserve, a 22,000 hectare conservation area surrounding the Exxaro Grootegeluk mine. It acts as an area of responsible and sustainable environmental management in mitigation of mining impacts. We consider it to be the forefront of modern-day nature conservation, where mega-industry and mining co-exist with nature conservation through the implementation of innovative and unique conservation practices, initiatives and projects. Guests to the lodge can experience this symbiosis by driving, hiking, cycling or jogging in an 800 hectare area of the reserve in which no large and dangerous game occur, thereby having perfect opportunities for game viewing and birding.
Our flagship species is the enigmatic Manketti tree, from which the reserve derives its name. This is the only place in South Africa where this tree occurs, and therefore we have a dedicated monitoring program for these trees, coupled with research projects to better understand its ecology. The area where these trees occur has recently been declared by Exxaro as a Protected Woodland. In addition we also take pride in caring for other plants with special protected status, such as the violet tree, leadwood, marula, camelthorn, shepards tree, and several smaller shrubs, forbs and geophytes.
The reserve is home to a great variety of wildlife, with only elephant and lion lacking. Our pride is our exceptional buffalo, and several rare and protected species such as sable antelope and tsessebe. Cheetah abound in the wilderness areas as our apex predator together with a healthy population of brown hyena and other smaller predators that do their part in sustaining a natural ecosystem. In addition to this, our bird list exceeds 200 verified species, including three vulture species which we actively nurture and monitor at our dedicated vulture feeding restaurant.
At Manketti we believe in sustaining intact and functional ecosystems as far as possible. This includes paying attention to all the less obvious, but critically important biota, such as invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians. For this reason we identify and specially protect and manage their sensitive ecosystems and habitats, such as seasonal pans and wetlands.
Behind the scenes, work is continually being done on enhancing conservation practices through several projects and studies that aims to improve our understanding of the natural environment, the impacts our actions may have on it, and how such impacts can be mitigated. We take great pride in doing this without hampering mega-industry’s ability to contribute to our county’s economy and growth. We believe that industry in combination with conservation is key for our country’s natural and environmental long-term sustainability.
