Madikwe Game Reserve, Game reserve near Kalahari Desert, South Africa.

Madikwe Game Reserve is a conservation area in South Africa's North West province, near the Botswana border, covering 750 square kilometers (290 square miles) of open grassland, scattered acacia woodland, and low rocky ridges. The terrain supports elephants, lions, leopards, black rhinos, and buffalo, alongside giraffes, zebras, and many antelope species that move freely across the plains and dry riverbeds.

The reserve opened in 1994 on former farmland north of Groot-Marico, after economists calculated that a reserve would create more jobs than farming in the poor area. Reintroduction began in 1992 under the codename Operation Phoenix, relocating breeding herds of elephant, buffalo, black and white rhinoceros and antelope. Predators such as lion, cheetah, spotted hyena and African wild dog followed, and the elephant population rose from 220 in the 1990s to over 1,600 in 2025.

The reserve takes its name from the Madikwe or Marico River, in whose basin it lies. Its creation was driven by economists' finding that a reserve would create more jobs than farming in this poor area. The land includes grounds of a Catholic mission at Vleisfontein, withdrawn from agricultural use in the 1980s.

The reserve is accessible only through private lodges and camps, which range from day trips to multi-day stays and are available in different price categories. Early morning or late afternoon is usually the best time for wildlife viewing, when temperatures are cooler and animals become more active.

The reserve is home to three packs of African wild dogs, one of the continent's most endangered carnivores, which have successfully bred after reintroduction in 1994. Visitors occasionally hear the high-pitched calls of the dogs when packs gather before a group hunt, a behavior rarely witnessed in the wild.