Mashatu Game Reserve Botswana

Location

Representing a classic model for what is considered ‘modern Africa’, our study area offers a unique perspective on wildlife conservation and preservation in the 21st century. Mashatu Game Reserve is located in the heart of Botswana's Northern Tuli Game Reserve, which forms part of the Greater-Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GM-TFCA), an area spanning 9,500 km (nearly 3700 square miles) of breathtaking biodiversity.

Our research area is adjacent to the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site, separated from South Africa in the south by the famous Limpopo River, and from Zimbabwe in the east by the Shashe River network of smaller tributaries crisscrossing its landscape making for a vibrant and complex ecosystem. Renowned for its rich archaeological heritage and diverse fauna, this magnificent landscape also contains over 350 species of birds, a broad community of carnivores, high concentrations of plains-game and the largest population of elephants found on private land in the world.
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