DISCOVER
Tumbeta Private Game Reserve
An authentic malaria-free safari in the Waterberg
TUMBETA PRIVATE GAME RESERVE
An Authentic Safari Experience
Derived from the local language, Xitsonga, Tumbeta translates to ‘secluded hideaway’. This is an authentic safari experience – Tumbeta Big 5 Game Reserve.
Off the beaten track, Tumbeta lies in a pristine area where the Bushveld meets the Kalahari, and the sourveld of the Waterberg turns to sweet Bushveld in the Matlabas river valley. Here you will find a private game reserve that offers refuge to spectacular wildlife, including the ‘big 5 species’. This Malaria free reserve is just 3 hours from Pretoria, in the Northwest of Limpopo province, South Africa.
To complement this pristine environment, we offer 2 unfenced, exclusive game lodges with an authentic safari experience at reasonable rates. Each lodge accommodates a maximum of 24 guests to ensuring exclusivity, and keeping vehicle density low to ensure a true wilderness experience with excellent wildlife sightings. Your stay includes 2 game drives per day in our open game viewers. We don’t allow private vehicles on the reserve, protecting the integrity of the experience. Throughout your stay, our hospitality team focuses on excellent guest service for a comfortable, enjoyable visit.
The reserve spans over 9000 hectares and includes several biomes with rich biodiversity. Classic bushveld habitat here includes Marula tree forests, Knob thorn woodlands and acacia veld, providing an ideal habitat for over 50 mammal species and over 300 bird species. Frequently spotted animals include Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Buffalo, Elephant and both Brown and Spotted Hyena. Endangered White-back and Lappet-faced vultures nest on the reserve, and raptors are especially prolific in summer, when they follow the nesting Red-billed Quelea flocks. Birding opportunities are excellent too, and the reserve is one of the best places to spot smaller carnivores like the African wildcat, Bat eared fox, honey badger, Aardwolf and many more.
Our Conservation Story
A Vision Beyond Our Borders
Be part of our vision to create a new conservation area, a South Africa Big 5 game reserve in the Limpopo province.
The strategy behind Tumbeta Private Game Reserve was to purchase land previously used for hunting and agriculture and return it to conservation and tourism. Our conservation plans reach beyond the property’s borders too. We’re actively involved in initiatives that support conservation across the wider area, including efforts to protect the last free-roaming predator populations. This means mitigating predator–farmer conflict and encouraging landowners to consider alternatives to destroying these endangered species.
Tumbeta Big 5 Game Reserve sits in the remote north-western Limpopo region of South Africa, an area which is largely a mix of hunting farms, game farms, private reserves and cattle farms. These areas remain rich ecosystems, home to large numbers of wildlife, though many larger mammals and predators were removed through past agricultural activities. Our goal is to re-establish these species and grow the reserve by incorporating more land, building an important new conservation area in a region rich with biodiversity.
Several endangered species frequent the area, including a number of raptors and vultures, as well as pangolin and free-roaming Cheetah and Wild dog.
LODGES
TUMBETA FAMILY LODGE
A private malaria-free safari lodge offering exclusive-use stays and flexible accommodation for couples, families and groups of up to 24 guests. With only one lodge currently open to the public, guests enjoy a secluded safari experience in a vast, untouched Waterberg wilderness.
Explore Tumbeta Family Lodge
“Spending time at Tumbeta rejuvenates the soul and allows you to connect with nature that brings deep comfort and joy.”
CONSERVATION
Vultures & Raptors
Tumbeta Big 5 Game Reserve is home to breeding nests of the critically endangered Lappet face and White back vultures. Over 20 nesting sites of White backs have been seen on the reserve and each year chicks are successfully raised to maturity, adding to these vulnerable and threatened populations.
Conservation
Predator Project
Saving South Africa’s last free roaming, endangered predators. These include Leopard, wild dog, brown hyena and Cheetah. The Waterberg district and northern and western Limpopo are home to the last free roaming wild dogs and a critically important Cheetah population.
CONSERVATION
Buffalo Project
As with any game reserve and conservation area, there are significant running costs. In order to help fund these expenses we have developed a Buffalo breeding project. In 2018 we introduced some of the finest disease-free Buffalo in the country to the reserve where they have been doing very well.
A Magical Slice of Paradise
I highly recommend Tumbeta as it is such a magical slice of paradise. – Calum H
TUMBETA
THE ULTIMATE SOUTH AFRICA BIG 5 GAME RESERVE EXPERIENCE
The Tumbeta Family Camp offers guests the opportunity to book the lodge for exclusive use or to experience the ultimate game lodge experience.