The Dinokeng Game Reserve is a wildlife sanctuary in the province of Gauteng, South Africa and can be accessed via the N1 route. It is a 40-minute drive from Pretoria or 75 minutes from the O. R. Tambo Airport and Johannesburg. The reserve has the Big Five game animals, and is open for visitors to explore. It covers an area of approximately 21,000 hectares. The name, Dinokeng, is derived from the language of the Tswana and Bapedi people, and is translated as “a place of rivers”.
History
The Dinokeng Game Reserve is part of the Gauteng government's “Blue IQ" project (an entity of the Gauteng Department of Economic Development). The initiatives for conservation taken by the Gauteng Provincial Government have led to the establishment of the Dinokeng Game Reserve that has promoted the concept of ecotourism in Dinokeng. In 1997, the then Premier of Gauteng, Tokyo Sexwale, announced a project to develop “Big Five” wild animal sanctuaries in the northeastern part of Pretoria. The main purpose of the government to establish Dinokeng Game Reserve was to develop tourism through the use of local natural resources, thereby increasing the employment rate and living conditions of local people.
The goal is to promote local socio-economic development through the development of “all Africa” destinations, especially those that are historically disadvantaged. The government will help with this project and will work with local landowners to attract private sector investment and ultimately achieve a self-sufficient tourism-based local economy. The Gauteng Provincial Government and more than 170 landowners have developed the concept that ecotourism can be a source of sustainable rural employment for rural communities. The formal planning of Dinokeng and negotiations with landowners began in early 2000, and Dinokeng Game Reserve was officially opened on September 22, 2011. Big Five animals such as leopard, lion, elephant, and buffalo were gradually re-introduced. When a group of black rhinoceros was re-introduced into the reserve in 2018, a Big Five Reserve had been established in the true sense.
Geography and climate
Dinokeng Game Reserve is located in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, in northeast Gauteng, 130 km (81 mi) from Johannesburg, close to the western N1 and N4 motorways. It covers an area of approximately 21,000 ha (52,000 acres). It has a latitude of between 25°40'00"S and 25°10'00" and a longitude of between 28°15'00"E and 28°40'00"E, including the current 18,500 ha (46,000 acres).
The Dinokeng area experiences summer rainfall patterns in the form of thunderstorms, which are changeable and varied. Most of the rainfall occurs during the summer, and from December to February, temperatures rise to more than 20 degrees. Rainfall varies from 350 mm (14 in) to 750 mm (30 in) per season. In winter, from May to August, the temperature is relatively mild, sunshine is sufficient, but the temperature difference is large in one day, cold in the morning and evening, and sometimes may drop to zero. During a year, the temperature varies between 0° and 40° with a long-term daily average of 21°. The south area of Dinokeng has a relatively mild climate with hot summers and usually rains in the afternoon. It is cool to very cold in winter. The Dinokeng Game Reserve is free of malaria.
Wildlife
In addition to the Big Five animals (lion, leopard, elephant, cape buffalo and rhinoceros), there are cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, brown hyenas, wildebeests, red hartebeests, tsessebe, eland, kudu, impalas, monkey, hippopotamus and crocodiles. And more than three hundred species of birds, including ostrich, osprey, a pair of breeding martial eagles, the endangered blue crane, guineafowl, herons, the avocet, stilt, jacana and various plovers, go-away-bird, hornbills, kingfishers, woodpeckers, shrikes, larks, bulbuls, swallows, starlings, thrushes, weavers and waxbills. Martial eagles have been classified as a vulnerable species by the IUCN. Also, Dinokeng Game Reserve may be counted among South Africa's main bird watching sites, rivalling areas like Ndumo Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal province in terms of its number of birds. Due to the unique environment, the relatively close positions of water, grass and bush, various groups of birds are attracted.