Park · Central District, Botswana
Northern Tuli Game Reserve
Private, unfenced reserve in Botswana's far east, where the Limpopo and Shashe rivers meet South Africa and Zimbabwe. Big elephant herds, good leopard, and you go out with a lodge guide.
Short answer
Northern Tuli Game Reserve is in Central District, Botswana. This page lists 5 places to stay and 1 sight.
- Malaria
- The reserve is in Bobirwa sub-district, which the CDC names among Botswana's malaria transmission areas and where it recommends prescription antimalarials.
- Places to stay
- 5
- Where
- Central District, Botswana22.10°S 29.11°E
The Northern Tuli Game Reserve is not a national park. It is about 72,000 hectares of private land in the far eastern corner of Botswana, 36 freehold properties run together by their owners, with the Limpopo on the South African side and the Shashe on the Zimbabwean side. Much of it is unfenced. People come for elephant in big herds, for leopard, and for sandstone ridges and baobabs that look nothing like the flat north of the country. Mashatu takes up more than half of it.
Getting there
Most visitors arrive from South Africa. Pont Drift border post is roughly six hours by road from Johannesburg and about two from Polokwane. When the Limpopo is low you cross by vehicle, and when it is in flood you go over in a cable car. Platjan, the other small border post, has a low-level bridge.
From inside Botswana the route runs through Selebi-Phikwe and Bobonong. The tar stops about 65 km beyond Bobonong.
Mashatu also flies guests from Lanseria, near Johannesburg, to Limpopo Valley Airfield inside the reserve. It takes about an hour and a half.
When to go
June to October is dry. The bush thins, animals crowd the last water and elephants dig for it in the sandy riverbeds, so this is the easy time for predators. October is very hot.
The rain comes as afternoon thunderstorms between November and March. Everything goes green, impala and wildebeest drop their young in December and the summer birds arrive. Rivers come down in flood and the hottest days reach 40°C. Winter mornings are cold, down to about 5°C.
What to do
You do not drive yourself around here. Tuli Wilderness does not allow it, and a lodge guide takes you out in an open vehicle. Because the land is private there are night drives, which are not permitted in most of Botswana, and Mashatu’s guides leave the track.
Guided walks are a big part of it. Mashatu also runs mountain bike rides along elephant paths, horseback safaris and a sunken photographic hide at a waterhole. Tuli Wilderness walks guests up Eagle Rock.
Solomon’s Wall, a line of basalt cliffs 30 metres high on the Motloutse River, is the best-known sight. The meeting of the Limpopo and Shashe, where the three countries touch, is the other.
Good to know
The reserve lies in Bobirwa, which the US CDC lists as a malaria area where tablets are recommended. Tuli Wilderness describes its own area as low risk. Ask a travel clinic.
There are no rhino or buffalo, so this is not a Big Five reserve.
Tuli Wilderness’s camps are unfenced and staff walk you to your room after dark. Fill up in Alldays if you come through Platjan, because there is very little after the border. Tuli Wilderness recommends high clearance and advises against low cars from October to April. In those months ask your lodge about the roads and which border is open before you leave. Lodges add a conservation levy to the bill.
History and culture
The Northern Tuli Game Reserve is private land in Botswana's eastern corner, on the Limpopo opposite Mapungubwe, the hill where a trading kingdom ruled in the 1200s. The strip it sits in, the Tuli Block, exists because of a bargain struck in 1895 between Khama III and Cecil Rhodes's company over a railway that was never built here. Farmers who found the ground too rough for cattle turned it over to wildlife from the 1960s.
- Before AD 500
San hunter-gatherers lived and hunted along the Limpopo valley and painted eland and other animals on the sandstone ridges and under rock overhangs. Several of those sites survive in and around the reserve. source
- About 1220 to 1300
The Kingdom of Mapungubwe had its capital on a flat-topped hill just across the Limpopo, in what is now South Africa's Mapungubwe National Park. It grew rich on Indian Ocean trade and is one of the earliest class-based societies known in southern Africa. source
- 1890
Cecil Rhodes's Pioneer Column, a force raised by his British South Africa Company to take Mashonaland, set out from Macloutsie in Bechuanaland on 28 June and crossed the Tuli River into Matabeleland on 11 July. source
- 1895
Khama III of the Bangwato travelled to Britain with two other chiefs to stop Rhodes's company taking over the whole protectorate. They succeeded. The company was left with only the narrow Tuli Block, wanted for a railway to Rhodesia. It was later cut into farms, as a buffer against Boer farmers moving north. source
- 1899
Early in the South African War, Boer commandos from the Transvaal attacked Colonel Plumer's Rhodesian forces across the Limpopo at Rhodes Drift between 16 and 18 November. source
- 1964
Some of the landowners formed the Limpopo Game Protection Association as farming wound down. The reserve as it is today, 36 freehold properties managed together, grew out of it. source
- 1998
Thirty young elephants were taken from their herds in the Tuli area and sent to South Africa for training. The NSPCA, South Africa's animal welfare body, took up the case over the cruel methods used, and a court returned a guilty verdict. source
- 2006
Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe signed a memorandum on 22 June to create a conservation area across the three borders. First called Limpopo/Shashe, it was renamed the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area on 19 June 2009. Northern Tuli is Botswana's share. source
- The Babirwa
- The reserve is in Bobirwa, which means the land of the Babirwa. They are a people with roots in what is now Limpopo province in South Africa, and their biggest village and administrative centre is Bobonong. source
- Who works here
- Mashatu employs 239 people and says 98% of them are from Botswana. Children of staff often follow their parents into jobs on the reserve, and some guides have been there for more than 40 years. source
- The mashatu tree
- Mashatu, the largest property in the reserve, shares its name with the mashatu tree. It calls itself the Land of the Giants and says the name comes from those trees. source
- Leopard names
- Mashatu's guides know the reserve's leopards as individuals and name them in the local language, often after a tree or a place. Motswiri means leadwood tree and Mohoyo means fig tree. source
Main sights in Northern Tuli Game Reserve
6- Solomon's Wall
Basalt cliffs 30 metres high on the Motloutse River, the remains of a natural dam that once held back a lake. The water left deposits of quartz and agate behind.
Wikipedia, Tuli Block - The Limpopo and Shashe confluence
The point where Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe meet, in the reserve's eastern corner. Some of the biggest leadwood and apple-leaf trees in the area grow here.
Northern Tuli Game Reserve landowners association (Notugre), history - Rock paintings at Motlhabaneng
Paintings of people, animals and hunting scenes on the outskirts of the village on the reserve's south-western boundary, almost certainly the work of the San.
Wikipedia, Motlhabaneng - The archaeological site on the Motloutse
An archaeological site on the Motloutse River. Mashatu recommends July for a visit, when the summer vegetation has died back and its features show.
Mashatu Game Reserve, the seasons month by month - Discovery Room at Mashatu Lodge
A small museum of the reserve: archaeological finds, Boer War relics picked up on the property, reconstructed skeletons and the results of the predator and elephant research done here.
Mashatu Game Reserve, activities - Fort Tuli
Across the Shashe in Zimbabwe, so not a casual side trip. This is where the Pioneer Column entered Matabeleland in 1890. The original fort is gone, and an old police building moved to the site in the 1970s was used to hold finds from the area.
Wikipedia, Tuli, Zimbabwe (Fort Tuli and the Tuli Circle)
Did you know?
- The reserve has no government owner. It is 36 freehold properties covering about 71,000 hectares, run by a landowners association known as Notugre. source
- At Pont Drift, the main way in from South Africa, guests cross the Limpopo by vehicle when the river is low. When it is in flood they cross the border in a cable car. source
- Limpopo Valley Airfield, inside Mashatu, is a private international airport where passports are stamped on arrival. It takes aircraft of up to 32 seats. source
- Rudyard Kipling set his story of how the elephant got its trunk on the banks of the Limpopo. source
- Around Fort Tuli the border leaves the Shashe River and follows the rim of a 10 mile circle. Early settlers agreed it with local people as a zone kept clear of cattle, to stop rinderpest reaching their trek oxen. source
- Mashatu: Land of Leopards, a documentary filmed entirely on Mashatu over three years, was made for France Télévisions, National Geographic and RTS. It was chosen to close the Wildscreen Festival in Maun in June 2025. source
Checked 12 October 2026.
Wildlife you might see
15- very likelyElephantAcross the reserve and at the lodge waterholes. All year. The biggest herds, up to 200 together, gather on the new grass in January. In the dry months they dig for water in the sandy riverbedssource
- very likelyImpala, plains zebra and blue wildebeestThroughout the reserve, in large numbers. All yearsource
- likelyGiraffe, kudu and elandThroughout the reserve. All yearsource
- likelyLeopardAcross Mashatu, where the resident leopards are known by name and territory. Guests often see more than one during a stay. All yearsource
- likelyLionWide-ranging, so sightings vary. All year. Tuli Wilderness rates lion as a good chance over four or five days, not a certainty on every drivesource
- likelyKlipspringer and rock hyraxAll yearsource
- likelyOstrich and kori bustardMashatu counts both among its seven giants. All yearsource
- likelySummer migrant birds (woodland kingfisher, southern carmine bee-eater, broad-billed roller)Tuli Wilderness puts its bird list at more than 350 species. October to March, depending on when the rain arrivessource
- possibleCheetahThe open plains, following the impala out of the woodland. Most often in January, when the new grass draws impala onto the plainssource
- possibleSpotted hyena and brown hyenaBrown hyena are seen at known den sites. Spotted hyena are mostly nocturnal and heard at night more often than seensource
- possibleBat-eared fox, African wild cat, civet and genetMostly nocturnal. Bat-eared fox are common in wintersource
- possibleNile crocodile and hippoIn or near the Limpopo. More likely in the rainy season, when the river holds watersource
- possiblePel's fishing owlTuli Wilderness has a resident bird at a spot it calls Pel's Poolssource
- rareAfrican wild dogTuli Wilderness calls them rare and unpredictable visitors to the areasource
- rareAardvark, serval and caracalVery few in the area, nocturnal and seldom seensource
Likelihood is for a normal visit of two or three days, from the sources linked. Nothing is guaranteed in the wild.
Hikes and walks
2- WalkMashatu guided walks
Mashatu describes its guided walks as a way to explore at walking pace, not a race or an endurance test. You go out with one of its walking guides.
Permit: For Mashatu guests, with the reserve's walking guides only
Mashatu Game Reserve, activities - Eagle Rock with Tuli Wilderness
A guided walk up Eagle Rock, which Tuli Wilderness tells guests not to miss. Its guides offer a walk, or a drive and walk combined, in place of a game drive.
Permit: For Tuli Wilderness guests, with a guide
Tuli Wilderness, Serolo Safari Camp
Staying safe in Northern Tuli Game Reserve
- Malaria
- The reserve is in Bobirwa sub-district, which the CDC names among Botswana's malaria transmission areas and where it recommends prescription antimalarials. Tuli Wilderness describes its own area as low risk. See a travel clinic before you fly and let them decide. source
- Unfenced camps
- Tuli Wilderness's camps are unfenced and animals move through freely. Listen to the arrival briefing, do not let children wander alone, wear closed shoes and carry a torch after dark. Staff walk guests back to their rooms once the sun is down. source
- River crossings
- The Limpopo can be in flood between November and April. Tuli Wilderness tells guests coming from South Africa to ask which border post to use before they set off. source
- Roads
- The road from Platjan border post to Tuli Wilderness is dirt. It recommends a 4x4 in the rainy season, advises against low cars from October to April and asks guests not to drive at night. Drive slowly: the area is unfenced and animals are on the roads too. source
- Heat
- Summer days reach 40°C, and Mashatu says October is called suicide month for the heat that builds before the rain. From September, game drives go out early in the morning and late in the afternoon for that reason. Drink more water than you think you need and keep the middle of the day for the shade. source
- Snakes and scorpions
- Tuli Wilderness asks parents to warn children about snakes, spiders and scorpions when they climb trees or turn over rocks. source
Tips from travellers
- You cannot drive yourself around on game drives. Tuli Wilderness does not allow self-drive vehicles and has no campsite. Plan on staying at a lodge and going out with its guides. one source
- Coming through Platjan, fill up in Alldays. There is very little after the border. one source
- There are no rhino and no buffalo. If the Big Five list matters to you, this is the wrong reserve. If elephant, leopard and walking matter more, it is a good one. one source
- July is the month Mashatu suggests for the archaeological site on the Motloutse River, because the summer growth has died back and the features show. one source
- South African MTN signal covers most of the reserve. Botswana's Mascom and Orange only work in patches. one source
- Horseback safaris at Mashatu are for people who already ride. Children under 12 are not taken, and under-18s need an experienced rider with them. Book ahead. one source
Checked 12 October 2026. Conditions change, so confirm with the park or venue before you go.
A shelled shop, borrowed lions and elephants that walked back
On 2 November 1899 a Boer shell took the roof off a shop. Bryce’s Store stood where the wagon road from the Macloutsie met the track down to Pont Drift, about 10 km from the army camp at Rhodes Drift, and Colonel Plumer’s Rhodesians were using it as a forward supply dump. Two dozen men were there with a wagon column when some 200 burghers came across the river. One of the Boer officers was Commandant Eloff, a grandson of President Kruger. The Rhodesians got inside, the gun found the range, and those who had not run for the bush gave up. Seven went off as prisoners.
The Boers also left with six loaded wagons and a military field telephone, and for a while they listened in on the Rhodesian line until somebody thought to change the codes. Two days later they were back and dug in around the wreck with Maxims. Rob Burrett pieced the fight together for the Military History Journal in 2003, with a photograph of the collapsed back wall. The ruin is still there, on what is now Mashatu land.
When the valley had no elephants
Tuli sells itself on elephants, so it is odd to learn that for the best part of a century there were none. Ivory hunters worked the Limpopo and Shashe hard from the 1840s. Gordon Cumming shot along these rivers between 1846 and 1848, and Petrus Jacobs is credited with 200 elephants on a single trip. By 1855 elephants were scarce enough that the hunters were going much further north. When Selous guided the Pioneer Column through in 1890 there was nothing left to shoot.
They came back on their own. The first sighting on record is from 1940, by a Dr Z. Nel. By the 1960s one landowner had counted about 300, and a 1998 paper in the journal Pachyderm put the population at up to 1,000. An aerial count led by Jeanetta Selier in August 2014 found 1,449 across the wider three-country area, and noted that numbers on the Botswana side were slipping as herds moved over to Mapungubwe and the South African game farms.
The same herds made headlines in 1998, when 30 young elephants were caught and sold to a dealer near Brits. Our timeline has the court case. What it leaves out is that WWF paid to get the last nine out of his hands, that they reached Marakele on 30 July 1999, and that the verdict took until April 2003.
George Adamson’s last lions
Adamson was shot dead at Kora in Kenya on 20 August 1989, leaving three young lions half way through learning to be wild. Gareth Patterson, who had been working with him, brought them south to Tuli: Batian and his sisters Rafiki and Furaha. He lived with them in the bush for several years, and they mated with wild Tuli lions. Batian wandered into South Africa and was shot by trophy hunters. Patterson’s Last of the Free and With My Soul Amongst Lions tell it from his side, quarrels with landowners included.
Batian’s end turned out to be the pattern. A study in the journal Oryx counted 19 Tuli lions shot, snared or poisoned between 2000 and 2011, and found that about 95% of adult deaths happened outside the reserve. Across the river the fenced Venetia reserve held lions at a much higher density with better cub survival. So lions here are real but thinner on the ground than the fence next door manages.
Wild dogs were tried too. Eighteen came from Marakele, which could not keep them inside its fences, in November 2007 and were let out of the holding pen on 5 April 2008. They never became a fixture, and wild dog is still a rare sighting. Do not book for them.
What people report from the vehicle and the hide
Leopard is the animal visitors come away talking about. One writer who went in September 2023 counted six in his first two days, one of them lying up in the shade of a mudbank on the Majale River and another posing in a tree beside the vehicle. That is a single trip in the driest month, so do not expect the same tally in January.
Cheetah turn up in two unconnected accounts, both times with a kill: a mother whose cubs were finishing off a steenbok, and one that brought down an impala in front of an Irish journalist. Tuli Wilderness still rates them only occasional. The 2023 writer also had eland coming to water in herds, not the three or four most people are used to.
The sunken hide divides by time of day. The same writer did both sessions and found the morning the busy one, with herds arriving one after another, queleas pouring in by the thousand and elephants clearing everything else off the water. The Irish journalist sat there at dawn with about two dozen elephants, a month-old calf among them.
One dissenting voice is worth hearing. A pilot who flew in during May 2022, 14 years after his last visit, wrote on a South African 4x4 forum that he was shocked by the bare ground and by mopane broken down into bushes, and blamed too many elephants. It is a single account, but he had seen the place before, which most visitors have not.
A name in a baobab
On Mmamagwa, a rock outcrop on Mashatu, stands a baobab with a name scratched into its bark. The story is that Cecil Rhodes cut it himself on his way through. Nobody who repeats it gives a date or a document, so treat it as a good story.
In and around Northern Tuli Game Reserve
6 places listedWhere to stay in Northern Tuli Game Reserve 5
- 22.21°S 29.09°EMotelTuli Safari Lodge Mashatu+267 74 988 822mashatu.com
- 22.28°S 28.99°ECampsiteMolema Bushcamp
- 22.21°S 29.15°EHotelRock Camp
- 22.21°S 29.16°EHotelSatare Lodge
- 22.19°S 29.35°EHotelShalimpo Game Lodge
Sights 1
- Solomons WallViewpoint
Quick answers
What animals can you see in Northern Tuli Game Reserve?
Most visitors see elephant, impala, plains zebra and blue wildebeest. You have a good chance of seeing giraffe, kudu, eland, leopard, lion and klipspringer. African wild dog, aardvark, serval and caracal are there but rarely seen.
What are the best hikes in Northern Tuli Game Reserve?
WalkMashatu guided walks and Eagle Rock with Tuli Wilderness. See the hikes section for times, difficulty and permits.
Map of Northern Tuli Game Reserve
See every place on this map as a list