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Manyeleti Private Game reserve is situated in
the Limpopo province of South Africa.
The reserve borders the Kruger National Park to
the Eastern side, the Timbavati Reserve on the
Northern side and the Sabi Sand reserve on the
Southern side, and falls into the Southern/central
region of the Greater Kruger park biosphere.
The size of the reserve is 23500 hectares. (58750
acres).

As one can see on the Manyeleti reserve map abive,
there are only two commercially operated lodges
based in the Manyeleti (Honeyguide Tented Safari
Camps & Tintswalo Safari Lodge). With a maximum
of 8 safari vehicles traversing the reserve, each
vehicle will have on average 2937 hectares to
themselves making this one of the lowest vehicle
density private reserves in the greater Kruger
Park region.
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The area has a subtropical climate which lends
to warm rainy summers and a dry cooler winter.
The main months of rain would be October through
to March. The average rainfall for the region
would be + - 500 millimeters a year.
The Manyeleti reserve is made up of two distinct
types of Ecozones. The underlying rock types determine
the nature of the soil that breaks down from them.
The Northern part of the reserve is based on
the Thorn Veld ecozone which in broad terms
outline the younger surface of dark brown loams
derived from the basalt.
Typically one would find such tree
species as Knobthorn trees, Transvaal Saffron,
Large Leaved rock figs. Red Bushwillow, Round
leaved-Teak, Marula, Jacket-plum, Russet Bushwillow,
Tree Wisteria, Umbrella thorn, Weeping wattle
and Zebrawood.
Due to the soil types (Gabbro) this region abounds
with sweet grasses which are highly edible for
all the grazers.
Predators found in the Thornveld region would
be Lion, Cheetah, Hyena, Wild dog, Leopard and
Black backed Jackal. Browsers found in the region
would be Kudu, Giraffe, Impala and Duiker, Bushbuck,
Kudu and Nyala.
Grazers would be Wildebeest, Zebra, White Rhino,
Waterbuck and large herds of Buffalo are common
on this soil type due to the abundance of quality
grazing.
Uncommon sightings would be Black Rhino and Sable
antelope.

The Southern part of the reserve
is referred to as the Mixed Bushwillow Woodlands
Ecozone. The Mixed Bushwillow Woodlands Ecozone
is found on underlying Granite bedrock giving
rise to gently sloping hills and rocky outcrops
with huge round boulders such as at the Koppies
region in the reserve. Broad-leaved trees favor
the higher upland areas while thorn trees prefer
the lower-lying areas. Many rivers and streams
are found in this region.
A huge variety of trees and shrubs occur in this
ecozone including various Bushwillow's, Leadwood
trees, Silver cluster-leaf, Buffalo thorn, Sickle-bush,
Weeping wattle, Apple leaf and Round leaf teak.
In the riverine regions one can see huge Sycamore
figs, Jackal-berry and Weeping boer-beans trees.
The grasses growing in the above
ecozone are mixed and sweet.
Predators found in the mixed Bushwillow ecozone
would be Lion, Side-striped Jackal, Hyena and
Leopard.
Browsers commonly found in the region would include
Kudu, Giraffe, Impala, Klipspringer, Nyala, Bushbuck,
and Steenbok.
Grazers typically found in this region are many
and varied such as Buffalo, White Rhino, Wildebeest,
Waterbuck, Warthog and Zebra.
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