We all stayed in Johnannesburg and most of us went of a safari to some of these game reserves that lie north of Johannesburg with various photos below

Madikwe Game Reserve used to be farm land, but owing to the poor soil type, farming was not that successful. After extensive research, the South African government found that this land would best be utilized as a provincial park, to economically uplift this otherwise rather poor area. It is currently the fifth largest game reserve in South Africa. The park is now 750 km², including the now incorporated privately owned land. Madikwe has been regarded as one of the better conservation areas in Africa, offering all the major species, including lion, Leopard, elephants, Cape buffaloes, both white and black rhinos along with almost all the plain

The Kapama Private Game Reserve was another Safari some of our group visited.  Kapama Game Reserve (founded 1993) is a 13,000 hectare privately owned nature reserve. It was founded by Johann Roode, who initially bought the land for cattle grazing but realized that didn’t work so he started to develop the area as a touristic region by being a tourist destination for watching African animals like: lions, leopards, hippos, giraffes, and so on

The Ann Van Dyk Cheetah Center: The center first achieved international recognition for bringing the cheetah back from the brink of extinction – it was largely due to the center that the cheetah was removed from the endangered species.  Its success can be seen from the fact that, since its inception, over 600 cheetah cubs have been born at the center, which is a dramatic increase from the period when the total cheetah population of South Africa was estimated at only 700. In 2009, it was estimated that 800 cheetah cubs have been bred so far. In addition to its cheetah breeding success, the centera has also had other notable successes:

• The first breeder of the rare king cheetah. As a result, it was proved that the king cheetah was not a separate species, but merely a striped variation of the standard spotted cheetah.
• The breeding and release of captive-born African wild dog packs into their natural habitat.
• A breeding nucleus of the highly endangered riverine rabbit has been donated to the Karoo National Park, the natural habitat of the species. photos below of the various safaris 

Photos below of the various safari and animal rescues