Atherstone Nature Reserve

Atherstone Collaborative Nature Reserve
Atherstone Nature Reserve
Location	South Africa
Nearest city	Dwaalboom
Coordinates	24°34.491′S 26°47.112′E
Area	23,500 hectares (235 km2)
Established	1994
Governing body	Management Authority is a collaboration between LEDET and Private Land Owners

Atherstone Collaborative Nature Reserve, also known as the Atherstone Nature Reserve, is a 23,500 hectare reserve situated close to Dwaalboom, in the Limpopo, province in South Africa. The reserve consists mainly of vast savannah plains with bushveld and Kalahari grasslands ecosystems. Besides antelopes, zebras and giraffes, the south-central black rhinoceros and African bush elephants are one of the highlights of Atherstone.

History

Norman Edward Atherstone, who was originally a cattle farmer and become the first game farmer In this area, did a lot to re-introduce some game on his farmland, which was then called the Atherstone Game Reserve. He never had a wife nor children and, in his last will, he donated his farms to the former Transvaal Nature Conservation Department. In 1990 the Atherstone Nature Reserve was founded; it became the Atherstone Collaborative Nature Reserve in 1994, after some private farms were also incorporated into the reserve.

Animals

The following list of animals were taken from pamphlet of the nature reserve and from iNaturalist observations.

Common animal species found in the reserve:

Buffalo	Caracal	Cheetah	Duiker–grey	Eland	Elephant
Gemsbuck	Genet	Giraffe	Hartebeest-red	Hyena–brown	Impala
Jackal-black-backed	Kudu	Leopard	Monkey-vervet	Rhino-black	Rhino-white
Sable antelope	Steenbok	Tsessebe	Warthog	Waterbuck	Wildebeest-blue
Zebra

Common bird species found in the reserve:

Ostrich	Hamerkop	Hadeda ibis	African spoonbill	Whitefaced duck	Knobbilled duck
Egyptian goose	Secretary bird	Cape vulture	Lappet-faced vulture	White-backed vulture	Tawny eagle
Wahlberg's eagle	Martial eagle	Brown snake eagle	Black-breasted snake eagle	Bateleur	African fish eagle
Dark chanting goshawk	Gabar goshawk	Crested francolin	Swainson's francolin	Common quail	Melba finch
Helmeted guineafowl	Blue waxbill	Violet-eared waxbill	White-browed sparrow weaver	Paradise whydah	Kori bustard
Lesser masked weaver	Black korhaan	Redcrested korhaan	Crowned plover	Blacksmith plover	Spotted dikkop
Double-banded sandgrouse	Rock pigeon	Red-eyed dove	Cape turtle dove	Laughing dove	Namaqua dove
Green-spotted dove	Grey loerie	Jacobin cuckoo	Diederik cuckoo	Burchell's coucal	Barn owl
White-faced owl	Pearl-spotted owlet	Flernecked nightjar	Rufous-cheeked nightjar	European bee-eater	Little bee-eater
Blue-cheeked bee-eater	European roller	Purple roller	Lilac-breasted roller	Hoopoe	Grey hornbill
Southern yellow-billed hornbill	Southern red-billed hornbill	Pied barbet	European swallow	Fork-tailed drongo	Pied crow
Brown-hooded kingfisher	Titbabbler	Puffback	Long-billed crombec	Wattled starling	Burchell's starling
Groundscraper thrush	Marico sunbird	Red-billed oxpecker

See also

• Protected areas of South Africa
• Limpopo Tourism and Parks Board

References

Further reading

• Fowlds, Grant; Spence, Graham (2020). Saving the Last Rhinos. Pegasus Books. ISBN 9781643135120.

External links

• Limpopo Tourism & Parks