About Us
OUR STORY
A Tale of Land, Nature, People and Dreams
Limpokwena Nature Reserve is a pristine piece of land, a wonderful piece of wild Africa, where people dream dreams of joy, fulfillment and of conserving of all good things in nature. Above all it is a place where dreams come true.
The Reserve is situated in the north of Limpopo Province in South Africa at the confluence of the Mogalakwena River and the Limpopo River. It is close to Mapungubwe National Park and falls within what is known as the Mapungubwe Golden Mile, which incorporates sites of historical significance of the movement of previous tribes throughout the area, containing old artefacts and rock paintings. Clay pot remnants and other artefacts from a previous lifetime were found at Limpokwena Nature Reserve. The land was registered in 1870 as the farm “Bivack”, (derived from “Bivouac” – to take shelter often temporarily”). The history of this nature reserve lives on through old farming infrastructure and Baobab trees scratched with initials and dates from the late
1800’s.
Limpokwena’s vision is conservation of nature in its totality. Creating a Nature Reserve at Bivack and removing fences on the Limpopo River between Botswana’s Thuli block and South Africa, were the answer. Thus came into being a vast conservation area where the animals, big and small, from the mighty elephant to little water mongoose and all those in between, can move freely from one country to another without hindrance of any kind.
That is the story how Limpokwena Nature Reserve saw the light of day and is going from strength to strength, a nature reserve like no other, where the wild animals can truly be wild again and nature can restore itself through its own natural processes!
Our Calling
A man with a passion, a dream and a calling, a true conservationist at heart, with the drive to make it all a reality, passed here during his lifetime. This man was Markus Jebsen. Markus and his family acquired the property for conservation purposes and through their energetic actions Limpokwena Nature Reserve came into being. Markus sadly passed away, but Limpokwena is carrying on under the leadership of wife and children.
Limpokwena’s soul and purpose for being, is to offer a safe-haven for all wild animals, including birds in an area where hunting is one of the main industries along with agriculture. One of our conservation goals is to create a corridor along the Limpopo River, where fences are removed as far as possible and animals are able to move freely across areas which haven’t been accessible in the recent past. Ideally we aspire for neighboring farms and like-minded property owners to drop fences with us, to create a reserve like no other, where the all animals would be truly wild once again.
About Markus Jebsen
Markus Jebsen was born on September 5, 1962 in Hong Kong as the son of the ship owner and overseas merchant Hans Jacob Jebsen (of Jebsen & Co) and his wife Doris.
His education spanned three continents: Hong Kong, Denmark and USA (New York University). He returned to Hong Kong in 1993 and after a ten-year partnership in Jebsen & Co, decided to establish his own group of companies under the name MF Jebsen International, based out of Hong Kong.
He had a loving family and is survived by his spouse Judith and three children Alexander, Maximilian and Michelle. Markus is well known for being a champion for Nature and BioDiversity. In addition to establishing many Nature Reserves in South Africa, Denmark, USA and Australia, he also founded MF Jebsen Nature Conservation Foundation Limited and established Auction4Wildlife in 2019. He was a founding board member of Foundation Conservation Carpathia, a founding board member of the Asia Pacific Advisory Group of African Parks and an avid supporter of many Nature and Wildlife NGOs.
We will dearly miss his passion for Nature and his vision, humour and generosity.
You can read more about Markus here.
Our Vision
This prime location with such a diverse landscape that has in the past been through various landowners, means that the reserve is under various processes of recovery and rewilding. Being the most recent guardians of this land, our main focus is eco-tourism and conservation. Limpokwena Nature Reserve has been reclaimed for a flourishing population of biodiverse species that were originally endemic to the area. Our environmental philosophy is to let the land manage itself.
