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Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve
The Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve is located in the Western Cape of South Africa. It is the 7th and largest of South Africa’s biosphere reserves; divided into four connected sectors ranging from sea level to 2,240 metres. The area is the only place in the world where three recognised biodiversity hotspots converge (Fynbos, Succulent Karoo and Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany). The site is characterised by high endemism of plant species (1,325 species including 182 Succulent Karoo endemics and 92 Red List species) and threatened invertebrates including seven endemic species of the enigmatic beetle genus Colophon and 14 butterfly species. It provides a migratory route for large mammals such as the leopard and serves as a nursery for marine species. Notwithstanding the richness in biodiversity, the area currently faces deep rooted socio-economic challenges including high unemployment, wide-spread poverty, sprawling informal settlements with inadequate services, rising HIV and cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laingsburg, Western Cape
Laingsburg is a town located in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is a relatively large agricultural town in the semi-arid Great Karoo. It was partially destroyed in a flash flood in 1981. History Following the arrival of the early Dutch, German and Huguenot pioneer settlers in 1727–1728, the area was settled by 18 Trekboer farmer families who trekked up from Still bay and Swellendam, led by the Meiring, Bezuidenhout, Botha, van Rooyen, van Heerden, Holtzhausen, Eksteen, Du Plouuy, Roussouw, Joubert and Viljoen families, who established sheep and orange farms in the area. In 1738 the settlement raised a Commando militia platoon of 20 Riflemen, 5 Mounted Riflemen, 2 field guns and 8 gunners. It was led by Commandant Cornelius Steyn and Field Cornet Petrus Holtzhausen till the 1760s. In the 1760s the Commando organised long range punitive and reconnaissance raids deep into Beaufort West and Nelspoort to recover cattle and sheep. In 1774 the settlement sent an advan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swartberg
The Swartberg mountains (''black mountain'' in Afrikaans) are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little Karoo. To the north of the range lies the other large semi-arid area in South Africa, the Great Karoo. Most of the Swartberg Mountains are above 2000 m high, making them the tallest mountains in the Western Cape. It is also one of the longest, spanning some 230 km from south of Laingsburg in the west to between Willowmore and Uniondale in the east. Geologically, these mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt. Much of the Swartberg is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The two ranges The Swartberg consists of two officially named ranges, the Smaller and the Greater Swartberg Mountains. ''Klein Swartberge'' The Smaller Swartberg are the westernmost of the two. Ironically, this range is the higher one, including the province's high ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinnacle Point
Pinnacle Point a small promontory immediately south of Mossel Bay, a town on the southern coast of South Africa. Excavations since the year 2000 of a series of caves at Pinnacle Point have revealed occupation by Middle Stone Age people between 170,000 and 40,000 years ago. The focus of excavations has been at Cave 13B (PP13B), where the earliest evidence for the systematic exploitation of marine resources (shellfish) and symbolic behaviour has been documented, and at Pinnacle Point Cave 5–6 (PP5–6), where the oldest evidence for the heat treatment of rock to make stone tools has been documented. The only human remains have been recovered from younger deposits at PP13B which are years old. History of the research The discoveries at Pinnacle Point have been made by an international team, headed by palaeoanthropologist Curtis Marean from the Institute of Human Origins of the Arizona State University as well as researchers from South Africa (UCT), Australia (Archaeology Progr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khoisan
Khoisan , or (), according to the contemporary Khoekhoegowab orthography, is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the (formerly "Khoikhoi") and the or ( in the Nǁng language). The San were formerly called Bushmen, (from Afrikaans ''Boesmans'' from nl, Boschjesmens); and the were formerly known as " Hottentots", speculated to be a Dutch onomatopoeic term referring to the click consonants prevalent in the Khoekhoe languages. However there is no evidence of this etymology."A very large number of different etymologies for the name have been suggested ... The most frequently repeated suggestion ... is that the word was a spec. use of a formally identical Dutch word meaning ‘stammerer, stutterer’, which came to be applied to the Khoekhoe and San people on account of the clicks characteristic of their languages. However, evidence for the earlier general use appears to be lacking. Another fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve
Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve is a protected area in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Characteristics The Baviaanskloof - (Dutch for "Valley of Baboons") - lies between the Baviaanskloof and Kouga mountain ranges. The easternmost point of the valley is some 95 km NW of the coastal city of Port Elizabeth. The Baviaanskloof area includes a cluster of formal protected areas managed by the Eastern Cape Parks Board totalling around , of which the most well-known is the 184 385 ha Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve - the third largest protected area in South Africa. The Baviaanskloof Forest Reserve was established in 1920. It also includes the Groendal Nature Reserve and Formosa Nature Reserve, and encompasses private land. The Baviaanskloof area is one of outstanding natural beauty, owing to its spectacular land forms, a diverse array of plants and wide variety of animals. The area is part of the Cape Floristic Region World Heritage Site as of 2004. References External ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boosmansbos Wilderness Area
The Boosmansbos Wilderness Area of is situated north of Heidelberg in the eastern Langeberg mountain chain of the Western Cape Province, South Africa. ''Boosmansbos'', i.e. 'angry man's forest', is named after a resident hermit of the early 19th century who had been known to scare youngsters who visited his apiaries. The elevation reaches at Grootberg peak, located at the center of the wilderness area. The tributaries of the Duiwenhoks River, which drain its southern slopes, tumble along precipitous gorges to above sea level on the southern perimeter. In the southwest the wilderness area encloses the Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve of , the most western natural forest in South Africa. The wilderness area conserves mountain fynbos and valley forest. Among the special fynbos plants conserved are Erica and everlasting species as well as the rare Langeberg rambling aloe. Important forest tree species occurring in the valleys are sickle-leaved yellowwood, stinkwood and red ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leopard
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, and on the Indian subcontinent to Southeast and East Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because leopard populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are declining in large parts of the global range. The leopard is considered locally extinct in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Jordan, Morocco, Togo, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Kuwait, Syria, Libya, Tunisia and most likely in North Korea, Gambia, Laos, Lesotho, Tajikistan, Vietnam and Israel. Contemporary records suggest that the leopard occurs in only 25% of its historical global range. Compared to other wild cats, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. Its fur is marked with rosett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bontebok
The bontebok (''Damaliscus pygargus'') is an antelope found in South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia. ''D. pygargus'' has two subspecies; the nominate subspecies (''D. p. pygargus''), occurring naturally in the Fynbos and Renosterveld areas of the Western Cape, and the blesbok (''D. p. phillipsi'') occurring in the Highveld. The bontebok is related to the common tsessebe. Description The bontebok is a tall, medium-sized antelope. They typically stand high at the shoulder and measure along the head and body. The tail can range from . Body mass can vary from . Males are slightly larger and noticeably heavier than females.Burnie, D. and Wilson, D.E. (eds.), ''Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife''. DK Adult (2005), The bontebok is a chocolate brown colour, with a white underside and a white stripe from the forehead to the tip of the nose, although there is a brown stripe across the white near the eyes in most blesbok. The bontebok also has a distinctive whit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Mountain Zebra
The Cape mountain zebra (''Equus zebra zebra'') is a subspecies of mountain zebra that occurs in certain mountainous regions of the Western and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. It is the smallest of all existing zebra species and also the most geographically restricted. Although once nearly driven to extinction, the population has now been increased by several conservation methods, and is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Taxonomy The Cape mountain zebra is one of two geographically separated subspecies of the species ''Equus zebra'' (mountain zebra), the other being Hartmann's mountain zebra (''Equus zebra hartmannae''). The Cape mountain zebra was once regarded as a separate species from Hartmann's mountain zebra based on taxonomic evidence, but recent genomic evidence has led to the two populations now being reclassified as subspecies of ''Equus zebra''. Appearance Like all zebra species, the Cape mountain zebra has a characteristic black and white striping pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karoo
The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold.Potgieter, D.J. & du Plessis, T.C. (1972) ''Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa''. Vol. 6. pp. 306–307. Nasou, Cape Town.''Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa''. (5th Ed. 1993). pp. 78–89. Reader’s Digest Association of South Africa Pty. Ltd., Cape Town. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils. The ǃ’Aukarob formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the interior from Cape Town, and the early adventurers, explorers, hunters, and travelers o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020. About two-thirds of these inhabitants live in the metropolitan area of Cape Town, which is also the provincial capital. The Western Cape was created in 1994 from part of the former Cape Province. The two largest cities are Cape Town and George. Geography The Western Cape Province is roughly L-shaped, extending north and east from the Cape of Good Hope, in the southwestern corner of South Africa. It stretches about northwards along the Atlantic coast and about eastwards along the South African south coast (Southern Indian Ocean). It is bordered on the north by the Northern Cape and on the east by the Eastern Cape. The total land area of the province is , about 10.6% of the country's total. It is roughly the size of England or the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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