The Gamkaberg Nature Reserve is situated in the

Little 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 ext ...

region of the

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 ...

province,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Name and history

Gamkaberg Nature Reserve visitors centre 1

The reserve takes its name from the central mountain, Gamkaberg, which in turn derives its name from the indigenous

Khoi-khoi Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

word for Lion, together with the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

suffix "-berg", meaning mountain. The reserve was established in 1974 to protect one of the region's last remaining herds of

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 ...

(which numbered only five surviving animals in 1976), and to reintroduce game which formerly occurred in the region. It has since been declared a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. The core reserve is 10 430 ha, but the greater Gamkaberg Conservation Area comprises a variety of different protected surrounding areas, and includes 80 000 ha. Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra) (32549960485)

Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra) (32549960485)

Location

Gamkaberg Nature Reserve, South Africa (1020302)

The terrain of the Gamkaberg is varied, including mountain peaks, plateaus and steep gorges. Fossils and stone age paintings or rock art are also present in the reserve. The nearest towns are

Calitzdorp Calitzdorp is a town on the Western side of the Little or Klein Karoo in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and lies on South Africa's Route 62. The farm Buffelsvallei, on which Calitzdorp stands, was granted to Jacobus Johannes and Matt ...

to the north-west;

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ), the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865–1 ...

to the north-east; and

Vanwyksdorp Vanwyksdorp is a town in Kannaland Local Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Village on the Groot River, some 55 km south-east of Ladismith Ladismith is a town and agricultural centre in the western Little Karoo regio ...

to the south. The mountains which compose the nature reserve form a separate range, within the

. The mountain to the west of the Gamkaberg, part of the same range, is also conserved as a nature reserve named the Rooiberg Nature Reserve and the Groenefontein Nature Reserve forms part of that same conservation area, and they are managed together. The river which flows southwards past the reserve shares its name. The

Gamka River Gamka River ( af, Gamkarivier) is a river located in the Western Cape, South Africa. The name '' means 'Lion' and was probably named so by the San people (Bushmen). The river originates north of Beaufort West, generally flowing southwest towards ...

begins far to the north in the arid

Great 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 ex ...

and flows southwards towards the ocean.

Fauna and Flora

Haworthia viscosa at Gamkaberg Nature Reserve

Other than the large numbers of

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 ...

, other large mammals include

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, a ...

caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted e ...

aardwolf The aardwolf (''Proteles cristata'') is an insectivorous species of hyena, native to East and Southern Africa. Its name means "earth-wolf" in Afrikaans and Dutch. It is also called maanhaar-jackal (Afrikaans for " mane-jackal"), termite-eatin ...

black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas),'' also called the silver-backed jackal, is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers. One region includes the southe ...

hartebeest The hartebeest (; ''Alcelaphus buselaphus''), also known as kongoni or kaama, is an African antelope. It is the only member of the genus ''Alcelaphus''. Eight subspecies have been described, including two sometimes considered to be indepen ...

, grysbok, and a wide range of other

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...

species. The reserve is also home to an unusually large range of

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

and bird species. The flora of the Cape region is one of the richest on the planet. Four of the Cape biomes occur in the Gamkaberg:

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 clim ...

Succulent Karoo The Succulent Karoo is a ecoregion defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature to include regions of desert in South Africa and Namibia, and a biodiversity hotspot. The geographic area chosen by the WWF for what they call 'Succulent Karoo' does no ...

Subtropical Thicket The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north and ...

, and

Evergreen Forest An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zone ...

Access and accommodation

The nature reserve is open daily for visitors. Accommodation in the nature reserve includes eco-lodges and a campsite, as well as several remote stone shelters in the mountains, which are remains of herders' huts. Accommodation is deliberately rustic and simple, so as to have a minimum effect on the surrounding wildlife and environment.

Activities

In addition to the animal and plant life, the reserve has an information centre, hiking and 4x4 routes, educational trails, labyrinth, as well as picnic and barbecue facilities.

Official website

Gamkaberg Nature Reserve

References

{{Western Cape Provincial Parks Nature reserves in South Africa Provincial nature reserves of the Western Cape Protected areas established in 1974 1974 establishments in South Africa