Blyde-Olifants Conservancy, The Conservancy consolidates a group of privately owned game farms in the central Lowveld region into an official nature reserve. Lying roughly between Hoedspruit

Hoedspruit

Hoedspruit is a town situated at the foot of the Klein Drakensberg , in the Limpopo province of South Africa, on the railway line from Tzaneen to Kaapmuiden.-Economy:...

 and Phalaborwa

Phalaborwa

Phalaborwa is a town situated in the Mopani district, halfway up along the length of the Kruger National Park in the Limpopo province in South Africa. The Lowveld, also known as Valley of the Olifants, has the highest winter temperatures in South Africa. The rainfall is low and the average winter...

. Through the conservancy run two incredibly different rivers - on the one hand is the river most often associated with the colour brown - the powerful Olifants River - behind which runs the Drakensberg escarpment, creating a striking backdrop, whilst on the other is the clear, sparkling Blyde River

Blyde River

The Blyde River , or Motlatse River , is a river in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa. It has a northwards course in steep-sided valleys and ravines of the Mpumalanga Drakensberg, before it enters the lowveld region of the Limpopo province...

, a tributary of the Olifants River.

Wildlife

Include: hyena

Hyena

Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...

, kudu

Kudu

The kudus are two species of antelope of the genus Tragelaphus:*Lesser Kudu, Tragelaphus imberbis*Greater Kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros- Etymology :...

, giraffe

Giraffe

The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...

, leopard

Leopard

The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...

, squirrel

Squirrel

Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...

 and zebra

Zebra

Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...

, whilst the rivers are well occupied with hippo

Hippo

A hippo or hippopotamus is either of two species of large African mammal which live mainly in and near water:* Hippopotamus* Pygmy HippopotamusHippo may also refer to:-Given names:...

 and crocodiles. Lion

Lion

The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

 and elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

 roam these plains freely and fairly regularly.

See also

• Protected areas of South Africa