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Greater Addo Elephant National Park
The Greater Addo Elephant National Park is a megapark in the making, and consists of the following parks: * Addo Elephant National Park * Woody Cape Nature Reserve * Marine Protection Area ** Bird Island ** St Croix Island Objectives The park is intended to guarantee long term conservation of the regional biodiversity and to reduce threats to the biodiversity by effective and efficient management, and to promote a sustainable and inclusive eco-tourism industry in the region. Funding The Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded a research process to determine the ideal choice of land for inclusion in the park. The land classes in the proposed area were identified in a conservation planning framework, and ecological processes. potential threats and vulnerability of each land class was considered, along with conservation targets for fauna populations. Extent The park extends between Woody Cape across the Colchester area, the original elephant enclosure, the Nythani concession a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Addo Elephant National Park
Addo Elephant National Park is a diverse wildlife conservation park situated close to Gqeberha in South Africa and is one of the country's 20 national parks. It currently ranks third in size after Kruger National Park and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. History The original section of the park was founded in 1931, in part due to the efforts of Sydney Skaife, in order to provide a sanctuary for the eleven remaining elephants in the area. The park has proved to be very successful and currently houses more than 600 elephants and a large number of other mammals. Expansion The original park has subsequently been expanded to include the Woody Cape Nature Reserve that extends from the Sundays River mouth towards Alexandria and a marine reserve, which includes St. Croix Island and Bird Island, both breeding habitat for gannets and penguins, not to mention a large variety of other marine life. Bird Island is home to the world's largest breeding colony of gannets - about 120,000 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biome
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader term than habitat and can comprise a variety of habitats. While a biome can cover large areas, a microbiome is a mix of organisms that coexist in a defined space on a much smaller scale. For example, the human microbiome is the collection of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that are present on or in a human body. A biota is the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biotas of the Earth make up the biosphere. Etymology The term was suggested in 1916 by Clements, originally as a synonym for '' biotic community'' of Möbius (1877). Later, it gained its c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Right Whale
The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20° and 60° south. In 2009 the global population was estimated to be approximately 13,600. Taxonomy Right whales were first classified in the genus ''Balaena'' in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, who at the time considered all right whales (including the bowhead) to be a single species. In the 19th and 20th centuries the family Balaenidae was the subject of great taxonometric debate. Authorities have repeatedly recategorised the three populations of right whale plus the bowhead whale, as one, two, three or four species, either in a single genus or in two separate genera. In the early whaling days, they were all thought to be a single species, ''Balaena mysticetus''. The southern right whale was initially described as ''Balaena australis'' by Des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Five Game
In Africa, the Big Five game animals are the lion, leopard, black rhinoceros, African bush elephant, and African buffalo. They are examples of charismatic megafauna, featuring prominently in popular culture, and are among the most famous of Africa's large animals. The term was coined by big-game hunters, and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot but is now more widely used by game viewing tourists and safari tour operators. The 1990 and later releases of South African rand banknotes feature a different big-five animal on each denomination. Countries where all can be found include Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Malawi. Species Elephant The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') and African forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis'') are the largest land-based animals. Elephants are herbivores with thick, almost hairles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Ocean Coastal Belt
The Indian Ocean coastal belt is one of the nine recognised biomes of South Africa. They are described in terms of their vegetation and climatic variations. Location and description The Indian Ocean coastal belt is a region of coastal dunes and coastal grassy plains in KwaZuluNatal and the Eastern Cape, from sea level to an altitude of about 600 m Mean annual rainfall ranges from 819 to 1,272 mm, and falls throughout the year, peaking in summer. The mean annual temperature ranges from 19.1 °C near the Mbhashe River in the southwest to 22 °C in the north east near the Mozambican border, with hot summers and mild, frost-free winters. The belt is about 800 km long and narrow, with a maximum width of about 35 km in the north to less than 10 km in parts of the wild coast, and the total area is relatively small. The relief of the region varies between flat in Maputaland, rolling hills with deeply incised valleys between Richards Bay and Port Edward ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nama Karoo
Nama Karoo is a xeric shrubland ecoregion located on the central plateau of South Africa and Namibia. It occupies most of the interior of the western half of South Africa and extends into the southern interior of Namibia. Climate The climate tends to be volatile and very harsh. Droughts A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ... are frequent with rain primarily falling in the summer. Rainfall can also be varied with it fluctuating between per year. Rainfall is known to be highly seasonal, peaking between December and March. It tends to decrease from the east to west and from north to south. The variability in the inter-annual rainfall also tends to increase with increasing aridity. Temperature variations as large as between day and night are common. Mean maximum temper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds ''in situ''. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." Using this definition, '' Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020'' (FRA 2020) found that forests covered , or approximately 31 percent of the world's land area in 2020. Forests are the predominant terrestrial ecosystem of Earth, and are found around the globe. More than half of the world's forests are found in only five countries (Brazil, Canada, China, Russia, and the United States). The largest share of forests (45 percent) are in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fynbos
Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate and rainy winters. The fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. In fields related to biogeography, fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of biodiversity and endemism, consisting of about 80% (8,500 fynbos) species of the Cape floral kingdom, where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic. This land continues to face severe human-caused threats, but due to the many economic uses of the fynbos, conservation efforts are being made to help restore it. Overview and history The word fynbos is often confusingly said to mean "fine bush" in Afrikaans, as "bos" means "bush". Typical fynbos foliage is ericoid rather than fine. The term, in its pre-Afrikaans, Dutch form, ''fynbosch'', was recorded by Nob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albany Thickets
The Albany thickets is an ecoregion of dense woodland in southern South Africa, which is concentrated around the Albany region of the Eastern Cape (whence the region's name originates). Geography The thickets grow on well-drained sandy soils in the wide valleys of the Great Fish, Sundays and Gamtoos River in the Eastern Cape and, extending further northwest, in the valleys of the Cape Fold Belt. Thicket is vulnerable to fire and to grazing so has always been restricted to valley areas where these are less of a threat than on open plains. Climate The climate is dry, especially as one proceeds inland, but the shady valleys are cooler than the surrounding terrain which is hot in summer, cold in winter and receives irregular rainfall. Flora The thickets contain many endemic plants, in particular succulent ''Euphorbia'' species and can be divided into three sections of varying habitat. The thicket is richest and most dense in the river valleys near the coast where it contains thorn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paterson, Eastern Cape
Paterson is a settlement in Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The town is located some north-west of Alexandria and north of Nanaga on the N10 National Route. Paterson village The village was laid out in 1879 at Sand Flats railway station, which had been reached by the Midland System of the Cape Government Railways on 1 April 1876.''Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway'', Statement No. 19, p. 181, ref. no. 200954-13Soul of A Railway - System 3 – Part 9: The Midland Main Line - Part 1: Port Elizabeth to Paterson - Caption 10 (Accessed on 5 February 2017) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woody Cape Nature Reserve
The Woody Cape Nature Reserve is a 25,000 hectare conservation area in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Mammals such as bushpig, bushbuck, Cape Grysbok, steenbok, common duiker, Vervet monkey, and large and small grey mongoose are represented in the reserve. The most common trees are ''Ochna, Apodytes, Cassine'' and ''Sideroxylon ''Sideroxylon'' is a genus of trees in the family Sapotaceae described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. They are collectively known as bully trees. The generic name is derived from the Greek words σιδηρος (''sideros''), meaning "iron", and ...''. References {{coord missing, South Africa Protected areas of the Eastern Cape ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jansenville
Jansenville is a town in Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Town on the Sundays River, 87 km south of Graaff-Reinet. Laid out on the farm Vergenoegd in 1854, it was proclaimed in 1855 and became a municipality in 1881. Said to have been named after General Jan Willem Janssens (1762-1838), the last Batavian Governor of the Cape. History In the late 1700s, outposts of the Cape Colony, in the form of the trek boer and hunters had reached and crossed the Sundays River. The greater portion of what now constitutes the Janesville district fell under Uitenhage. The first European to settle here was Christiaan Ernst Schutte, who obtained title to land surveyed by James Swan in June 1818 described as "Late Loan Place Vergenoegd" of 3000 morgen, and granted to C.E. Schutte in 1820. Schutte was required to pay to "The Receiver General of Land Revenue" an annual quitrent of 50 Rix dollars. Schutte later sold to Prinsloo and moved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
