The Mateya Safari Lodge is situated in the spectacular
75,000 hectare Malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve.

The reserve is characterized by extensive plains which slope in a north-easterly and easterly direction towards the Marico River. The Dwarsberg Mountain Range forms the reserve’s southern boundary, and the Tweedepoort Escarpment forms the dividing line between the reserve’s northern and southern sections, rising to 1328m at Tshwene-Tshwene.

The Madikwe Reserve is located in a Malaria-free area of the North West Province, a mere three and a half hours drive from Johannesburg and 120km from Sun City. The Madikwe Reserve has its own airstrip and regular SA Airlink flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town to Sun City and then onto the lodge make Mateya easily accessible. Arrangements can be made for direct, chartered flights, landing at the Madikwe Reserve airstrip, which is a short 10 minute drive from the main lodge.

Geography
The oldest exposed rocks on the reserve are estimated at around 2630 million years old, calculated using radiometric dating.

Inselberg hills (rock formations that rise abruptly from the surrounding plains, and are often dome shaped) are scattered throughout the reserve. The formation of these hills, referred to as the Gabbro, coincided with a remarkable process in the history of South Africa, which was coming to its end about 200km away from the present site of the reserve. The great pile of sediments that today make up the gold bearing Witwatersrand Basin appears not to have spread as far as the present day Madikwe, the lava certainly did. It is fitting then to note that the heritage of South Africa’s wealth the prosperity was formed very near to Mateya, which is one of South Africa’s most exclusive private game lodges.

History
The Madikwe region has been witness to human settlements and struggles for tens of thousands of years. Several Stone Age and Iron Age sites are located on the reserve. Artifacts discovered at the Marico River date as far back as the Early Stone Age, between 250 000 and a million years ago.

More recently, Madikwe was the site of African tribal migration and thereafter European colonial settlement. Indeed, the complex and dynamic human struggles that have shaped the historical and cultural heritage of present-day South Africa have all, in some way or another, been experienced and contributed to upon the land that is today one of the most beautiful nature game reserves in the world. In fact, it was here that Sir David Livingstone, the famous discoverer, first met and later married Mary Moffat.

It is more fitting, in the context of the Mateya Safari Lodge, to highlight this historical instance of harmony and romance, for therein is a metaphor for the programme of human and ecological development which today is shaping the prosperous future of this beautiful stretch of land.

Weather
The Madikwe Reserve lies within the geographical region known as the Kalahari Plains Thorn Bushveld Savanna Biome.

The average temperature throughout the year is a moderate 18 degrees Centigrade. The summer months, between September and April, range in temperature from 16 degrees Centigrade to 31 degrees Centigrade.

The winder period, May through August, fairs more temperately at between 2 degrees Centigrade and 22 degrees Centigrade.

Madikwe is classified as a summer rainfall region with the highest levels expected between November and February and the lowest between June and September.

Accessibility

Distance
From Johannesburg – 320km
From Sun City – 120km

By Air:
Madikwe Air charter in conjunction with Federal Air offers a daily shuttle flight from Johannesburg to Madikwe airstrip. This flight departs Johannesburg at 11h15 and lands in the reserve at 12h15. On the day of your departure the flight departs the reserve at 12h30 and land at Johannesburg International at 13h30. A Mateya Safari Lodge representative will welcome you and transfer you to the Lodge. This is approx. 10 minutes drive

Arrangements for the shuttle flight or charters flights & road transfers can be made by the lodge

Madikwe Airstrip Air Coordinates:
24° 44’S ; 26° 24’E

Elevation: 3319 feet. The airstrip runs east to west and is approximately 1400m in length.

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Interesting Sites:

The Mateya Safari Lodge is situated in the spectacular 75,000 hectare Malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve.

Geography The oldest exposed rocks on the reserve are estimated at around 2630 million years old, calculated using radiometric dating.

Accessibility

The Mateya Safari Lodge is situated in the spectacular
75,000 hectare Malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve.

Geography
The oldest exposed rocks on the reserve are estimated at around 2630 million years old, calculated using radiometric dating.