South African billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer and son build 118,000-hectare Kalahari reserve

South African billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer and his son Jonathan have built Tswalu Kalahari Reserve into a protected area of about 118,000 hectares in the Northern Cape, the largest privately owned reserve in the country.

The land was once a patchwork of cattle and sheep farms on the southern edge of the Kalahari, much of it overgrazed. British businessman Stephen Boler began buying up the farms in the 1990s with a plan to return them to wilderness. He died in 1998, and his will gave Nicky Oppenheimer the first right to buy the property. The Oppenheimer family took over in 1999 and has run it since.

The family has taken down farm buildings and internal fences, added neighboring land and reintroduced species that had vanished from the area, including lions, black rhinos, buffalo and giraffes. Trophy hunting, once allowed on part of the property, was banned under the Oppenheimers.

Rhinos, pangolins and research

The reserve is home to desert black rhinos, black-maned Kalahari lions, cheetahs, African wild dogs and brown hyenas, along with smaller and rarely seen animals such as aardvarks, aardwolves and Temminck's pangolins. Meerkat groups on the property have become used to people and can be watched at close range.

Research is a central part of how the reserve is managed. The Tswalu Foundation funds scientific studies on the property, and their findings guide decisions about how the land is restored and how many animals it can carry. Visitors can spend time with researchers in the field and pay for project work, such as the ear notching that helps identify individual rhinos.

Tourism pays for much of the operation. Tswalu runs three camps: The Motse, with nine private suites; Tarkuni, a five-bedroom house for families and groups; and Loapi, a set of six tented homes. In 2024 the reserve was given Global Ecosphere Resort status by The Long Run, a network of nature-based tourism businesses, the highest standard it awards.

Nicky Oppenheimer and his wife, Strilli, received a conservation award from WWF in 2007.

Beyond diamonds

Tswalu is one of several conservation and land holdings the family controls. It also owns Shangani Ranch in Zimbabwe, which combines cattle farming with wildlife protection.

The family's wealth comes from more than 80 years of control over De Beers, the diamond producer that Nicky's grandfather, Ernest Oppenheimer, took over in 1929. In 2012 the Oppenheimers sold their remaining 40% stake in De Beers to Anglo American Plc for $5.1 billion, ending the family's long hold on the diamond trade.

Since then, the family has reinvested through Oppenheimer Generations, the family office that Jonathan runs as executive chairman, putting money into private equity, consumer businesses, technology and other ventures. Billionaires.Africa has examined the family's wider empire after De Beers.

Nicky Oppenheimer, 81, chaired De Beers from 1998 until the sale. Forbes ranks him among Africa's richest people.