Rietvlei Nature Reserve

If you are looking for a day break-away from the big city, Rietvlei Nature Reserve will leave you feeling refreshed and ready to tackle a new week.

Situated just 18km out of Pretoria Central (Tshwane) and 38km from Oliver Tambo International Airport, the reserve houses three of the Big Five and offers a perfect day out with its clean picnic spots and varied landscapes.

Upon entering the reserve, we were greeted with a panoramic view of the Rietvlei Dam. The reserve forms part of the Rietvlei water catchment area and Rietvlei Dam supplies Tshwane with 15% of its water needs. It's 38 square kilometers is criss-crossed by 60 kilometers of tarred and proper dirt roads. Both these road types are in excellent condition and can be easily navigated with a small sedan. We did it in a Toyota Tazz with a dropped suspension!

After driving for about ten minutes, we saw our first game. An ostrich.

Big deal.

Five minutes later we were surrounded by 5 Rhinos, a herd of Zebra and quite a few Springbok. Two Eland could be spotted in the distance and the Red Hartebeest gave me one of my favourite pictures for the day. This was truly amazing considering the location of the Reserve. I mean we could've been home in the big city within 20 minutes!

"Rietvlei Nature Reserve has the capacity to house between 1500 – 2000 head of game..."

Rietvlei Nature Reserve has the capacity to house between 1500 – 2000 head of game, some of which are dangerous. According to the official literature, Rietvlei houses leopard, cheetah, hyena, aardwolf and african wild cat. Not to mention hippos and the herds of antelope and numerous small animals like monkeys, hares, weasels and mongoose. The only thing we saw that could be classified as dangerous were the Rhinos. For a couple of city slickers, that was pretty exciting though.

 

We decided to take a break from sitting in the car, and head for the Marais dam. The picnic spots here were clean and the atmosphere quiet. Trees on the shore provided plenty of shade and there are toilet and braai facilities for your convenience. Bird hides on the shore offer evidence of the ample bird life that is to be found in the reserve. 272 Confirmed species, according to the brochure.

Since we hadn't brought any food and the hippos weren't being very cooperative, we hit the road again. The 'Vlei Road' took us into a wetland or more specifically a peat wetland. For those of you who don't know what 'peat' is: Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetable matter. Hey, don't look at me like that. I had to Google it to find out.

Told you I was a city slicker.

"A short while later, my wife phones and tells me that if I don't come home straight away, I can very well marry the zebras and live in the bird hides..."

Basically, this looks like a swamp, albeit a pretty dry swamp at this time of year. The rest of the reserve looks pretty much like the rest of the highveld: Open grassland and small groups of indigenous trees.

A short while later, my wife phoned and said that if I didn't come home straight away, I could very well marry the zebras and live in the bird hides, so I guess it was time for us to go. On the way out, we ran into a small herd of zebra so close to the road that we could touch them. This definitely called for more photographs. I frantically grabbed for my camera, pointed it at the perfectly posed zebra and...

'Beep – beep - beep'

My camera's self timer goes off. I forgot to take the thing of self timer! The zebras moved away and my dad went into a fit of laughter. I had a totally different sort of fit.

All in all, we didn't really want to leave and felt like a second trip would definitely be worthwhile. Driving home and being stuck in traffic I couldn't help but notice the stark contrast between the peace and quiet of the reserve and the chaotic Friday afternoon traffic.

If you need a break from big city life without having to drive hundreds of kilometers or spending your yearly vacation budget, Rietvlei Nature Reserve is well worth a visit.

How to get there: From the R21 take the IRENE RIETVLEI DAM off-ramp. Drive in an easterly direction, at the first 4-way stop street turn right towards Olifantsfontein and the St Georges Hotel. Drive for 1,5 km, crossing the Sesmylspruit. On the left is a sign indicating RIETVLEI NATURE RESERVE, turn left and follow the road up the hill to the main gate. (Drive past the stone entrance until you get to the offices and entrance gate). To download a map to the reserve: (Right Click and 'Save Target As...') Rietvlei Nature Reserve Map

Tariffs:

Persons 12 years and older: R30
Children 6 - 12 years : R15
Pre-school children 0 - 6 years : free
Persons 60 years and older : R15
Season Tickets are also available.

For more information visit: http://www.tshwane.gov.za/rietvlei_facilities.cfm or Call: +27 12 345 2274 / 5103 / 4