Take a walk on South Africa's wild side

The Life: A 3,400-hectare property overlooking South Africa's Marakele National Park, which is home to lions and elephants, comes with a price tag of Dh18m.

Marakele National Park in South Africa. Ann & Steve Toon / Robert Harding World Imagery / Corbis

If location is key to property investments, Africa's private game reserves can prove a tough competitor to the usual luxury fare in the United States and European markets.

One of them is a 3,418-hectare property overlooking the Marakele National Park and Welgevonden Game Reserve in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.

Listed with Wiltinnet Properties, the game farm with views of the wilderness comes with a price tag of 42.8 million South African rand (Dh17.8m).

The company has been dealing in the game farm market for the past 33 years and has also expanded its services to Botswana and Namibia, says Chris Steenkamp, the marketing manager for Wiltinnet.

Marakele National Park, in the north-east of the country bordering Botswana, is part of the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve.

The park is home to the big four: the lion, elephant, leopard and rhinoceros.

The farm is divided into two units, which can be bought together or separately.

The developed part has views towards the national park and features rolling valleys, mountains, gorges and riverine island areas. Birdwatchers can also twitch away here.

On the wilder side, the property company says one can spot all manner of wildlife including leopards, wild dogs, kudus, zebras, waterbucks, giraffes, impalas, warthogs and blue wildebeests.

The second unit, which is also known as the "settlers and windmill portions", according to Wiltinnet, is the home of the leopards.

The plant specimens on the farm include marula, sweet thorn, euphorbia, red bush willow, red ivory, sickle bush, wild seringa and terminalia.

For the animals on the reserve, the farm comes with an abundance of fodder, including white-and-blue buffalo grass on the river's edges and finger grass.

The Mamba River runs through the property and even forms a small waterfall.