12 Dec Welgevonden Game Reserve
A 5-Star Lodge in a “Well-Found” (Welgevonden) Game Reserve
It most certainly was a good find on the occasion when a landowning farmer in a section of the bushveld in the Waterberg region of Limpopo recognised the region’s future potential, specifically some 35 000 to38 200 hectares of this pristine wildlife paradise. This was an entire area which he subsequently turned into an excellent private game reserve, thereafter naming the newly found, larger area Welgevonden Game Reserve.
“Welgevonden”, a Dutch word, means “well found”, as indeed was the case, as visitors to this beautifully natural bushveld region will attest. The original landowning farmer in question, one Pienkes du Plessis, was a visionary. During the 1980s, he farmed on one section of land, this being his farm called “Welgevonden”.
Restoration and Relocation
Du Plessis dreamed of restoring this part of the Waterberg to its former, natural glory by removing all obvious signs of human occupation, and returning the indigenous game and flora to the habitat that they once occupied. A long-term conservation initiative was launched in 1987, which began by combining all the farms in the designated area into one large, uninterrupted tract of land. “Welgevonden” was the name retained for the entire newly formed conservation project and reserve.
A certain amount of game was relocated from other bushveld regions; Welgevonden was the first game reserve in South Africa which successfully relocated entire breeding herds of elephants. Since the completion of the initial restoration project in 1993, game animals and other wildlife species roam freely throughout Welgevonden and the surrounding Waterberg region, much as they did for centuries before humans unwittingly degraded the land, and its fauna and flora.
5-Star Game Lodge
Our 5-star game lodge, Fifty Seven Waterberg, previously called “Molenvliet Lodge”, is situated on the 57th portion of Welgevonden Game Reserve, hence our name. Our guest accommodation consists of five luxuriously appointed, very spacious, private suites, each one at least 80 square metres in extent. Fifty Seven Waterberg is said to be one of this country’s most accessible, luxurious game reserves, featuring equally luxurious lodge accommodation.