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, highly endangered 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

Another brave mom - 22 February 2010
I have written a few times about seeing animal mothers seemingly ignore the danger of predators in order to try and save their young (almost always in vain). A lot of energy and time goes into raising a youngster and getting your genes out there to...
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Digging Deep - 25 January 2010
We had been watching a pride of lions sleeping for a while when we decided to head around the corner for a quick cup of coffee. We chose a hill quite some way away from where we could still keep an eye on the pride with our binoculars. No sooner had we...
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Maggots - 23 January 2010
Just before sunset one evening, we visited a sighting of two lionesses feeding on a Zebra that they had killed. It had been a scorching day with temperatures definitely above 30 degrees Celsius. A fair portion of the zebra had been consumed already and...
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