OUR TOWN

Century 21 Wildlife Properties are based in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, South Africa and in the heart of “Big 5” country. The area is one of South Africa’s biggest Tourist attractions, and on all good seasoned travelers “bucket list”.Hoedspruit is situated in the Lowveld, 50km west and midway between Orpen Gate and Phalaborwa, and is the gate-way to the heart of the Kruger National Park. The town is situated around famous game reserves such as Timbavati, Klaserie, Balule, Selati, Karongwe, Makalali and Thornybush Game Reserves. There are also many private game farms and hunting lodges. Hoedspruit is the perfect place to come on Safari in Africa, with good road, rail and air transport infrastructure. There are daily flights into Eastgate airport form OR Tambo International in Johannesburg.

The area is unique in that it is a wilderness haven and a highly scenic part of South Africa. It has the Northern Drakensberg Mountains towering up to 1900 meters, with lichen covered cliffs. Mariepskop Mountain is unique for it’s fuana and floral diversity and contains hilltop grassland, tropical mist forest, and capensis “fynbos” species. Five species of Vulture soar off the thermals from these mountains. This mountain alone has more plant species than the Kruger National Park and Table Mountain in Cape Town combined.

In the Hoedspruit region there are two of South Africa’s most important rivers, the Olifants River that runs through the Kruger National Park and the Blyde River. The Blyde River Canyon, which is the worlds largest green Canyon (due to all the plants found here) and third largest Canyon in the world. Both rivers are well known for populations of Crocodile and Hippo. The Blyde River offers life to a high diversity of red data trees, birds, fish and amphibian life, and has a unique riverine forest. Pels fishing owl and Fish Eagle are found on this river.

The Lowveld bushveld is unique in South Africa and contains large amounts of combretum, marula and acacia. Here you find 2000yr old Boabab Trees and 1000yrs old Leadwood trees. This area is fondly known by many South Africans as “the bush”The result of these mountains, canyons, rivers and bushveld is a high diversity of animal and birdlife that makes this one of the worlds premium destinations for game viewing.

A big favorite for safari goers is the “Big 5”, Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo. However there are many other game species that are popular such as Giraffe, Kudu, Hippo, Crocodile, Kudu, Waterbuck, Nyala, Cheetah, Warthog, Impala, Wildebeest, Hyena, Baboon and Zebra to name a few.

Other than game drives and bird watching there are many other activities that can be done in the area. There is hot air ballooning, microlight flights, elephant back safaris, lion walks, hiking trails, boat cruises on the Blyde dam, river canoeing and tubing. There is a golf course on the Air force base that is run as a non profit organization, and as a result prices for a game of golf are unusually low, as are the beverages at the 19th hole.

There are numerous animal rehabilitation and breeding projects in the area that allow visitors close up contact with animals that normally would not tolerate humans. These include cheetah, hippo, vulture, lion, buffalo and honey badger.

On the 20th of September 2001 the Kruger to Canyons (K2C) Biosphere Reserve was registered in Paris by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Biosphere Reserves are designated regions throughout the world where internationally important ecosystems and protected areas lie adjacent to human settlements, and are established to promote solutions to reconcile the conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use.

The climate in Hoedspruit is subtropical. Average temperatures in summer are around 31 degrees Celsius and around 26 degrees in winter, making for good weather all year round. Hoedspruit has a number of private schools, with Southern Cross Schools being internationally renowned. The school is a truly unique, value-based, co-educational complex of schools, based on Raptors View Wildlife Estate on the outskirts of Hoedspruit, South Africa. Its ethos is entrenched in an environmental code, which serves as its vehicle for instruction. The methodology through which learning is facilitated, is learner-centred and outcomes-based. Southern Cross is the first nature-based school in South Africa and possibly the world. The school has an environmental philosophy, and a determination to make a difference in ensuring a sustainable planet for our future generations. Based in the Kruger to Canyon Biosphere Region, the school has a strong commitment to the local environment and to community upliftment. As a result many parents have given up the city life to move to the bush for a better quality of life and upbringing for their children.

Hoedspruit is fast becoming a cosmopolitan town with people from many countries visiting and purchasing property in the area. Other activities in the area include yoga and taebo. There are several restaurants offering international and local dishes situated in scenic locations. The local shops sell a multitude of curious and crafts from the area including locally made silk products, Amarula Cream the alcoholic beverage made from the fruit of the Marula tree, wood and stone carvings among others.

Hoedspruit has grown to become a tourist destination in it’s own right. This has resulted in the demand for leisure property which is a mirror image of the environment. The result is private lodges situated on game reserves and on game farms. These lodges have their own modern architecture and combine natural thatch grass for roofs, wooden decks and living space that open onto glorious views of the bush in which they are situated.

They are not surrounded by walls or fencing, and animals are free to move between the lodges which offer home owners privacy from their human neighbors. These wildlife estates differ from place to place, but offer one common characteristic, that being, they share a sense of tranquility and being in touch with nature.

Going to bed to the sounds of the bushveld and hearing owl, hyena, nightjar and perhaps even lion, then to awaken at sunrise to see a giraffe or wildebeest outside ones window, as the birds start their morning songs, is something that every person on earth should experience.Hoedspruit is truly a special place, unlike any other.