South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
Mtamvuna River
Mtamvuna River is a river that forms the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape Provinces in South Africa. The river has a wide mouth and flows into the Indian Ocean just south of Port Edward. The Mtamvuna river is approximately 162&nb ...
, and is managed by
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is a governmental organisation responsible for maintaining wildlife conservation areas and biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Their headquarters is in Queen Elizabeth Park situated on the northern slopes o ...
. The reserve is 3,257
hectares
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...
in extent and was established on 25 July 1971.Pooley, T. and Player, I. (1995). ''KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife Destinations''. .
Description
The reserve includes a section of the Mtamvuna River, and surrounding cliffs and plateaus, from the outskirts of the town of Port Edward to 19 km inland. The total river frontage in the reserve is about 28 km. The reserve also includes the
Bulolo River
Bulolo is a town in Wau-Bulolo Urban LLG, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. It was once an important gold dredging centre in the former Territory of New Guinea, The reserve's 14 km nature trail is suitable for adept and well-prepared hikers.
The plateau areas consist of grasslands ( Pondoland Sourveld), which drop off into Coastal Scarp Forest in the gorge along the river below. Some of the cliff-faces are up to 240 m high, and a colony of
Cape vulture
The Cape vulture (''Gyps coprotheres''), also known as Cape griffon and Kolbe's vulture, is an Old World vulture in the family '' Accipitridae''. It is endemic to southern Africa, and lives mainly in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, and in some p ...
s is said to nest on them. The cliffs were formed by the river incising into
Natal Group Sandstone
NATAL or Natal may refer to:
Places
* Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil
* Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa
** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843)
** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
, and many
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
plants grow on this substrate and the soils derived from it.Pooley, E. (1993). ''The Complete Field Guide to Trees of Natal, Zululand and Transkei''. . The grassland areas of the reserve are known for their natural display of wildflowers in late spring, depending on rainfall and burns.
Wildlife
Animals in the reserve include
Diademmeerkatze.jpg,
Samango monkey
Sykes' monkey (''Cercopithecus albogularis''), also known as the white-throated monkey or Samango monkey, is an Old World monkey found between Ethiopia and South Africa, including south and east Democratic Republic of Congo. It is named after Eng ...
Blauducker.jpg,
Blue duiker
The blue duiker (''Philantomba monticola'') is a small antelope found in central, southern and eastern Africa. It is the smallest duiker. The species was first described by Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg in 1789. 12 subspecies are i ...