A hunting reserve is an area of protected land for the maintenance of wildlife for tourism or for hunting purposes as a sport. Many game reserves are found in Africa. Most of them are open to the public, and tourists usually make good safaris to see the animals, or to hunt them.
A game reserve is more than a piece of land or a place to keep wildlife; is a place where ecosystems are protected and conservation is key. The native fauna in its natural habitat makes it an ideal situation because it helps to provide an environment where the growth of animals can occur at a natural pace.
Some game reserves boast of having more than one ecosystem, sometimes even five, such as the wooded savanna of southern Africa, the fynbos or riparian forests and acacia forests; this provides a huge improvement in the kinds of fauna present and the numerous species of birds that grow strongly in these environments.
The biggest attraction is the Big Five, five species of African game: rhinoceros, elephant, buffalo, leopard and lion, called because of the difficulty of hunting them and not because of their size, and hence the leopard is on the list and not the hippopotamus.
The Eastern Cape Province in South Africa is one of the most popular safari destinations in the world as it enjoys a malaria-free environment along with a wide variety of wildlife. Photo safari is the most commonly used term for wildlife reserves where hunting is not involved. Although there is a new open reserve in the Western Cape province near Mossel Bay, the Gondwana Game Reserve, which is the first to have the big five wandering freely in this area.
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