Animal House

It is important that the design is in keeping with the existing resort feel of earth formed walls and grass thatched roof forms. The design needed to allow large family groups to holiday together in the one place, or for exclusive use with an entourage in tow with four superior quality suites and two bunk rooms. With the wild animals roaming everywhere around the mini resort, it was critical to understand the necessities of secure arrival points, secure outdoor areas and ‘ambiguous’ outdoor viewing areas which provided some protection through their elevation that were otherwise open to the wilds.

The Madikwe Game Reserve is named for the Marico River Basin that makes up the area. Local people had called this area home for thousands of years. Later, hunters, farmer, explorers, and adventure seekers traversed this region in the early 1800's. The area has evidence of Stone Age and Iron Age history. In 1996 archaeologists unearthed many artifacts dating back from the early to the late Stone Age (between 1 000 000 and 50 000 years ago). These artifacts, consisting of various stone tools, confirm that Stone Age people lived in Madikwe.

The Iron Age covers the past 2 000 years. Early Iron Age people moved from the Nigeria/Cameroon area between 200 BC and 100 AD, down the east coast of Africa to as far as the Eastern Cape. Sorghum and millet cultivation, livestock farming, pottery making and metal smelting gave these people more control over their daily and longer-term existences. The economic and social advantages of this more stable lifestyle allowed for larger family groups, which caused a southern migration to less densely populated areas.

The Middle Iron Age people started to arrive in the Dwarsberg/Marico River region after 900 AD. The oldest Iron Age pottery found in Madikwe is from the Eiland phase of Kalundu dating back to between 900 AD and 1300 AD. Their huts were cylindrical, with mud-plastered walls and thatched conical roofs. Cattle enclosures and fences around the settlement are made from thorn tree branches. Sorghum, millet and other crops were grown on the settlement’s perimeter on good soils that could be cultivated with a hoe. Building of the thousands of interlinked circular stone walled structures, which can be seen today, began in about 1600 AD. From about 1300AD to 1420AD the Sotho-Tswana people started to move south from East Africa with the first Sotho-Twana groups to arrive in the area were the Hurutshe people who settled along the Marico River. Their main settlement, Kaditshwene, south of Madikwe, eventually became one of the largest towns in Southern Africa. In 1800 AD, its population was estimated to be around the same as Cape Town’s at the time.

The Difaqane (or Mfecane) was a period of unrest in South Africa, which, in Madikwe, forced Sotho-Tswana people to move their homesteads to the tops of the hills and live in large settlements for defensive reasons.

It probably started years earlier when the Portuguese introduced maize into Southern Africa. The Nguni people in KwaZulu found that maize was easier to cultivate than other African grains and hence more food was produced, and populations grew. Consequently, more land was sought. Remnants of the stone-walled settlements built on the hilltops can still be found on and around the inselbergs in the northwest corner of Madikwe Game Reserve. These defensive sites date back to between 1800 and 1840.

Boers settled and farmed in the Marico River Valley, which they had wrought from Mzilikazi’s (a Zulu chief who resettled in the area) rule and consequently the Sotho-Tswana people, who had been enslaved by Mzililkazi, resettled in the area. Some Boers took to hunting for meat, skins and ivory, and when the elephants were shot out of the Marico area, moved north to Botswana and Matabeleland.

The Transvaal War (or First Anglo-Boer War) from 1880 to 1881. The Boers hung on to the Transvaal but in 1899 the South Africa War began, ending in 1902 after many battles, with the British taking control of the entire country. In the northeast corner of Madikwe, fortifications date back to this period where the battle took place between the Boers and the combined forces of the British and BaKgatla.

The reserve is home to approximately 66 large mammal and roughly 300 bird species. You will find all this flora and fauna in an area comprising vast open plains of grasslands, woodlands, rocky outcrops and mountains. The area is bordered in the south by the Dwarsberg Mountains.

The Big 5 are represented in the reserve and you are likely to spot lion, leopard, elephant, rhino or buffalo. During your visit you will also have the rare privilege of possibly seeing highly endangered African wild dog.

In 1994, a small group of six wild dogs were introduced into Madikwe. This founding group has seen a challenging time with rabies outbreaks, territorial clashes and encounters with lions. Despite the odds, Madikwe now has a thriving wild dog population with three hunting packs roaming the area. They are somewhat accustomed to safari vehicles, offering spectacular photographic opportunities. Madikwe Game Reserve’s conservation efforts to protect the ‘painted dog’ are in place to help conserve this majestic species.

The facilities provide guests with a fully serviced experience including all food, drinks and game viewing. The unfenced building sits completely open within the game reserve with the wild game, which includes lions, cheetah, leopard, elephant, wild dogs, hyena and much more able to come right up against the building.

The planning provides distinct zones that allow the feeling of complete privacy to each of the four suites which enjoy the best view to the game along with the living areas. The living spaces have been designed with double vistas to both the game view and outlook while also opening onto the pool terrace to the north. The resort was designed as a series of articulated components each with their own identifiable thatched roof forms all clustered around the central and largest roof form over the entertaining areas. The organic plan form reflects the local vernacular of mud formed walls and thatched roofing that can sit comfortably above the organic plan forms.

It really does not get much more sustainable than this with the earth for the rammed walls coming from the local area as does the thatching for the roof. The workforce for the project is sourced from the local village found just outside the game reserve.