Kogelberg Nature Reserve
Encyclopedia
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
in the east of Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. With about 1600 plant species, it contains a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world.
Ecology
Located in the Kogelberg Mountains, along the mountainous coast on the eastern edge of Cape TownCape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, this 3000 hectare nature reserve protects a significant portion of Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos
Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos
Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type occurring in the far south of the Western Cape, South Africa. This type of mountain fynbos contains an extremely high number of threatened species and a great number of the plants that occur here can be found nowhere else on earth...
. Among the enormous range of plants in this local vegetation type are hundreds of species of Erica
Ericaceae
The Ericaceae, commonly known as the heath or heather family, is a group of mostly calcifuge flowering plants. The family is large, with roughly 4000 species spread across 126 genera, making it the 14th most speciose family of flowering plants...
, a wide range of Protea
Proteaceae
Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...
species and a great many plant families which are endemic. There are also areas of wetland
Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland
Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland is a critically endangered vegetation type of the Western Cape, South Africa.-Environment:This type of riparian vegetation and its accompanying ecosystem is found in the Western Cape, South Africa, on freshwater floodplains, along the lower stretches of rivers and...
, and shady Southern Afrotemperate Forest
Southern Afrotemperate Forest
Southern Afrotemperate Forest is a kind of tall, shady, multi-layered indigenous South African forest.This is the main forest-type in the south-western part of South Africa, naturally extending from the Cape Peninsula in the west, as far as Port Elizabeth in the east...
s grow in the ravines and river valleys. The Kogelberg mountains are known as the heart of the Fynbos
Fynbos
Fynbos is the natural shrubland or heathland vegetation occurring in a small belt of the Western Cape of South Africa, mainly in winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate...
, and have a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world.
Greater Biosphere Reserve
The 100 000 hectare Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve incorporates the nature reserve as part of its "core conservation area". As such, the nature reserve is surrounded by buffer zones of natural vegetation and environmentally friendly recreational areas, as well as transitional zones of environmentally aware farms and towns. The Kogelberg Nature Reserve itself, as the core conservation area, is exceptionally pristine. In fact, the mountain slopes are closed to the public and strictly protected. However, there is a portion that is open for hiking, along the valleys and waterfalls of the Steenbras River Gorge.The R44 road is an exceptionally scenic road that skirts the mountainous coast of the Kogelberg reserve. Whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
s and dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
s can also regularly be seen from this road.
See also
- Kogelberg Mountains
- Biodiversity of Cape TownBiodiversity of Cape Town- Floristic region :The city of Cape Town lies within the Cape Floristic Kingdom . - Vegetation types :...
- List of nature reserves in Cape Town
- Kogelberg Sandstone FynbosKogelberg Sandstone FynbosKogelberg Sandstone Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type occurring in the far south of the Western Cape, South Africa. This type of mountain fynbos contains an extremely high number of threatened species and a great number of the plants that occur here can be found nowhere else on earth...
- Southern Afrotemperate ForestSouthern Afrotemperate ForestSouthern Afrotemperate Forest is a kind of tall, shady, multi-layered indigenous South African forest.This is the main forest-type in the south-western part of South Africa, naturally extending from the Cape Peninsula in the west, as far as Port Elizabeth in the east...