Andover Nature Reserve is a Limpopo provincial nature reserve, located seven kilometres from the Orpen Gate to the Kruger National Park. It is 7000ha in extent, and is close to Manyeleti Nature Reserve. It was proclaimed in the 1980s. Visitors to the reserve can see rhino and buffalo, as well as many of the other plains game, such as zebra, giraffe, kudu, bushbuck and other smaller antelope.
According to the acting reserve manager for Andover, Simon Manyike, there are a couple of leopards on the reserve, and no elephants. He says that lions sometimes enter the property from the neighbouring Sandringham Private Nature Reserve, spend two to three days within Andover, and then return to Sandringham. Manyike said that he has not received any official documentation relating to the relocation of white lions to the reserve, and had no information on the matter from his superiors.
The reserve entered the news in 2002 when a local game capturer was arrested for stealing several rhinos from Andover and selling them for personal gain.
He allegedly darted the rhinos from a helicopter and then drove them out of the reserve in-game capture vehicles.
The animals were later seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit. The reserve can accommodate a limited number of visitors, having four rondavels that can each hold four guests, and a caravan park that holds a maximum of eight people.
An ordinary vehicle entering the reserve is charged R20, with an entrance fee for adults and children of R10 per person.
