Waterberg Living Museum

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History: Waterberg Living Museum

The Waterberg Living Museum began in 1997, as the Waterberg Environmental Centre at Melkrivier, 50km north of Vaalwater, housing the Waterberg & Rhino Museums. The Waterberg Institute for Sociology & Ecology (WISE) came into being in 1998 as the research arm of the Museum. The Museum housed the offices of the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve as well as the Waterberg Nature Conservancy and for many years was the hub of conservation activities in the Waterberg.

In 2002 the Clive Walker Foundation was formed as a registered Non-Profit Organisation (NPO # 017-734) with the primary objective of managing the Museum. In 2005, Clive Walker retired from Lapalala Wilderness Reserve and Lapapala Wilderness School after 25 years to devote himself and his wife, Conita, to the new museum at Melkrivier. A living component was introduction in 2005, with the relocation of an orphaned black rhino. The Foundation ran the museum until mid-2008 when, as a result of a Land Claim on the museum property, the Foundation was forced to close the Museum. From its inception until its closure over 55 thousand visitors passed through the Museum, many of them children.

After the museum closed down, the Walker family pledged that the museum would be re-opened, still unaware at that time when and where that would be. Mr. Clive Walker acquired a 100ha property 27km North of the town of Vaalwater. This property turned out to be the perfect location for the new museum to be constructed. The building of the museum commenced in 2010. Money from the Land Claim took 7/8 years to be paid out. The Walker family relied upon their own money and fundraising, thus building progressed as funding came in. Now, after 9/10 years all the main buildings are constructed and the museum is close to opening its doors to the public.