Kwandwe offers not only the Big Five, but a selection of rare and more seldom found wildlife. For the first time in over a hundred years, guests can witness lion, cheetah, elephant, black and white rhino, and buffalo wandering free. Species such as kudu, grysbok, aardwolf, aardvark and caracal, which had always existed freely in the area, are now thriving in their natural habitat. Kwandwe offers some of the most magnificent cheetah sightings in Africa and is also home to the black rhino, one of the world’s most endangered large animals.   

Elephant were formerly widespread in the Eastern Cape and Kwandwe is the ideal habitat for this fascinating species. The old matriarchs make decisions as to where the herd will move or forage, sharing their experience of where the best areas are to feed at specific times of the year. The graceful kudu, with their majestic twisted horns, are one of the most abundant and conspicuous antelope at Kwandwe. Small family groups of females and bachelor herds of males can be encountered moving through their home ranges in search of food.

Kwandwe means ‘place of the blue crane’ in Xhosa and the reserve is home to a number of these rare, vulnerable birds. With a number of breeding pairs on the reserve, the fascinating dancing ritual performed prior to each mating season has been observed at Kwandwe. As Kwandwe is a private reserve, night drives are a daily feature and often result in unusual sightings. The reserve is famous for numerous sightings of the generally rarely spotted porcupine. Both the aardwolf and aardvark are frequently seen on night drives.

Recent Sightings from Wildwatch.com

Arrogance or confidance - 13 August 2010
The afternoon drive started with us setting out in search of a heard of elephant. Well that was the plan, but nature had other other ideas. Not 20 minutes after heading out on drive Samual L jackson(Ernie) had picked up some cheetah tracks. We didnt...
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Elephant Baby - 04 August 2010
At about 8 o’clock one superb morning, we located the elephants that we were looking for. The herd was spread out over quite a large area, all feeding on a fruitful aloe grove. A little way off, a huge uproar was heard from a little down the...
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Taking a chance - 01 August 2010
Ernie, my tracker and i new that there was only one thing that our guest where hoping to see. We had had some great sightings up until yesterday afternoon. But our guests where continuously asking for cheetah. We had searched long and hard for cheetah,...
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