Witbank Nature Reserve

Description

The 900 hectare Witbank Nature Reserve, situated on the outskirts of Witbank and bordering the Witbank Dam, offers grassland, wetland, and woodland areas home to a variety of wildlife and birdlife. Witbank Dam is a popular fishing dam, and although it’s a reputedly difficult dam to fish, there are several varieties of fish to be found here.

Wildlife

The nature reserve offers the chance to spot wildlife such as:

• Eland
• Wildebeest
• Kudu
• Waterbuck
• Impala
• Springbuck
• Zebra
• Hyena
• Snakes
• Otters
• Leopard.

Birdlife

There are plenty of birds in the reserve which can be spotted from bird hides or picnic spots.

Environmental Education Centre

The Environmental Education Centre if a fantastic facility where groups can partake in numerous activities or projects in a theme of their choice (including water, alien plant life, insects, trees, wetlands, animals, etc). The cost for these is R20 per child and R30 for adults to cover the entry fee into the Witbank Dam Resort and the activity resources used.

Fishing

Witbank dam has never really stood out as a prime fishing venue. Since this dam is not a very old dam, one might wonder why it received such a bad reputation so quickly. The answer is due to the surrounding coal mines which caused the exposure to dug up raw elements such as sulphur-pyrite, which had a rather deadly impact on the water quality and surrounding plant life. The dam is home to some very decent Florida strain largemouth bass. In fact, the previous South African record of largemouth bass was caught in the dam in 1997 and weighed in at 6.045kg! While the average fish is 1kg, fish reaching 3 – 4kg are also regularly caught.

The dam has excellent launching and security facilities, making this an ideal venue for Bass anglers. The Witbank Dam is also notably the venue for the annual Witbank Bass Classic, usually held in September each year.

Fish include:

• Carp: Common, Mirror
• Mudifish
• Barbel Sharptooth
• Bass

The nature reserve is open to day visitors. While no private vehicles are allowed into the Witbank Dam Reserve, a parking area near the gate provides 24 hour security. This provides peace of mind for day-visitors and overnight hikers to the reserve.