CONSERVATION LESSONS from the past
“In 1945 Norman Atherstone fenced in four kudu in a 200ha enclosure on the farm Rust, quite possibly the very beginnings of the first private game ranch in the Transvaal of the time!”
THE ATHERSTONE NATURE RESERVE
In 1917 Arthur Atherstone purchased the farm Rust 166 KP from the Government of the day in the Silent Valley district (right in the heart of the recently de-proclaimed Rustenburg Game Reserve) and settled there shortly after the First World War. He lost most of his livestock in what proved to be a very gruelling trek up to the farm from Ventersdorp and spent the next few years building up a cattle ranching operation.
His son, Norman, born in 1924, followed in his father’s footsteps and continued ranching with cattle while clearly at
