page_title: Olifantshoek
section_title: Witsand Nature Reserve
hierarchical_section_title: Olifantshoek / Attractions / Witsand Nature Reserve
caption_attribution_description: Road to Olifantshoek
context_page_description: Olifantshoek is a town in John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
  The village is 60 km northwest of Postmasburg and 80 km southwest of Kuruman. It developed from a police post and is administered by a village management board. The name is of Afrikaans origin and means "elephants' corner" or "elephants' glen", referring to the many elephant skeletons that Dutch settlers found in the area. It may also be translated from Tswana "ditlou".
context_section_description: The Witsand Nature Reserve has white sand dunes which are surrounded by contrasting red sand dunes. The reserve spans over 2,500 hectares of land with dunes up to 100 metres high and 10 kilometres in length. These white dunes are also known as the Kalahari Roaring Sands due to the sounds they make under certain weather conditions. The colouring of the dunes is believed to have been formed by numerous hills beneath the sand. Wildlife that can be observed in the nature reserve include meercats, pangolins and aardvarks. Larger antelope such as the red hartebeest, springbok, gemsbok and kudu can also be seen. Nocturnal wildlife includes the porcupine, aardwolf, bat-eared fox, Cape fox, genet, springhare and owl.
caption: The road leading to Olifantshoek
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