Kagga Kamma

Kagga Kamma is situated in the Swartruggens region, which can be described as a southeasterly extension of the Cedarberg. The Swartruggens plateau is bordered on the east by the arid Ceres Karoo.

The close relationship between the Swartruggens and the Cedarberg is geologically visible in its typical reddish brown weathered sandstone formations, as well as its plant cover, which can be described as a drier mountain fynbos. It is largely treeless and is dominated by a variety of shrubs with interesting local names such kakiebos, klaaslouwbos, koringbos, renosterbos, sneeubos, wolwedoring, taaibos and skilpadbessie. Protea species, so characteristic of the Cape Mountains are not as widespread in the drier Swartruggens region, but do occur in some of the higher areas.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESERVE

Willie de Waal, Pieter de Waal and Pieter Loubser bought Kagga Kamma as well as three adjacent farms in 1986. The property covers some 15 000 hectares and the new owners were impressed by the natural beauty and seclusion of the area. They built a small stone cottage in 1987 to enable them to entertain their friends at Kagga Kamma, but soon realized the need and potential of sharing it on a wider basis and preserve the area for posterity.

Thus in 1988, they decided to transform Kagga Kamma into a game reserve. This caused a variety of logistic problems. There were no proper roads, and some 20km of road had to reach Kagga Kamma. Finding an adequate source of water proved to be equally formidable. After sinking 10 different boreholes without success, as the pneumatic drills could not penetrate more than 30 meters into the solid rock formations, the owners in 1989 bought the farm Grootvlei, immediately to the south. Grootvlei had water of a high quality, which was subsequently piped to Kagga Kamma over a distance of 8km.
In 1989 the first antelope were reintroduced and the first chalets were also built.

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