Madikwe Conservancy

Madikwe Conservancy Private Game Reserve is a game reserve where 3 property companies and 1 game-owning company have come together to create a conservation area.

The property owning companies are as follows:
1) Purple Rain Properties – 6500ha
2) Marico Lake Conservancy – 2000ha
(Purple Rain owns 27%)
3) Quick Co 17 – 3500ha
(Purple Rain owns 10%)
The Game owning company is Kgoro Kgoro Farm Co, which owns all the game outside of the incorporated land into the greater Madikwe Game Reserve, excluding the breeding camps, rhino and animals on the 1000ha across the Derdepoort Road and Safe Area (Lodge, Gardens) – (Purple Rain owns 50%)


QUICKCO 17 (PTY) LTD - The story

In August 1997, Oscar Lockwood found the farms of Bokplaas and Sentelies to purchase with the purpose of establishing a private game reserve adjacent to the Madikwe Game Reserve in the North West Province.

The original minutes of the meeting of potential shareholders was the following:
• No commercial venture will be operated on the property unless 75% of their shareholders agree to
• Each shareholder will be entitled to erect a dwelling on the land for their exclusive use of which the buildings will have to conform to certain specifications and limited to 8 beds
• An airstrip will be constructed
• An owner will have to be present at all times through himself or ascendants or descendants, provided always that the person in control is over 18 years old.
The thinking changed over time that the proposed dwelling per shareholder would not work. Currently, we have two lodges, being Bokplaas and Rondavel where the shareholders can stay and enjoy the farm.
Oscar’s vision was to build on these original purchases of farms and in those early years had discussions with Frikkie Booysens (owned the farm that the gardens are on) and the farms that we called Gedeelte 2 & 3 to include them into this conservancy. The on going negotiations of the “river farms” continued.
During those early years, activities on the farms were removing cattle fences, getting rid of buildings and bush clearing. There was a small element of game farming but was very limited. The use of sheep were experimented with to see if that would assist with the management of sickle bush.
In 1998 discussions with North West Parks transpired with the view of incorporating the farms into Madikwe Game Reserve. For this to happen, Bokplaas, Frikkie Booysen farm and the Gedeelte farms needed to agree to be fenced in. In 1999 NWP agreed to drop the fences and include the above mentioned farms into Madikwe. The “Kameelboom” district road that was a servitude road accessing the farms in that area was the boundary of which the new fence would be erected to be included in NWP.
Madikwe East Land Owners Association (MELOA) was formed so that there was an organisation that NWP could communicate with which was not a company or individual. The organisation was to encompass all who owned land in a particular geographic area. The area would be north of the Molatedi Village and south of the Derdepoort Road, all the way to the Molatedi entrance road. This area is about 30,000ha.
The founding members of MELOA were Oscar Lockwood, Sven Kreher and Carl Trieloff and the title deeds incorporated were portion 1 of farm Kromdraai, Sentelies, and portion 1 of the farm Middelpoort. It’s important to note that this is the only formal structure that exists between NWP and the private land owners.

The current conservancy includes Purple Rain (Gedeelte 2 &3, Nooitgedacht), Morukuru (Gedeelte 1), Marico Lakes (Middelpoort) and Quickco (Kromdraai/Bokplaas & Sentelies farms).
The conservancy is split between Big Five and Non Big five. Purple Rain, Morukuru and Quickco (Bokplaas) make up the farms incorporated in the big five area, whereas Purple Rain , Marico Lakes and Quickco(Sentelies) make up the non big five area. All game on the non big five property belongs to the game farming syndicate.

PURPLE RAIN – The Story
At the end of November 2003 Vance Kershner bought his first farm in the Madikwe area to start, what has become an extraordinary philanthropic story.
Vance founded the software company Labware and has made it into the leading provider of LIMS (Laboratory Management Information Systems) in the world based on 6 continents. Through Labware Inc he was able to fund his “African Dream” of owning a piece of land in the bushveld. This was not going to be any ordinary farming investment in that this was also his contribution to Africa and its people. Key to our operation is the goal of employing unskilled people from the local surroundings and “upskilling” them, and providing them with the ability to dream and make a success of their lives. Up until 2009 there was no revenue being generated by the farm and this was seen as a major risk to the ability of Purple Rain to be a growing concern should Vance no longer be involved. It was decided to start generating revenue through game breeding and the part-commercialisation of Hillhouse Lodge. Purple Rain Game Breeders was started in 2010 with a herd of sable and has progressed today to include Buffalo, Roan, 3 x Sable herds, Golden Wildebeest, Black Impala, Coffee Springbuck and White-flanked Impala