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Articles: Nature and Environment


South African Animal Sanctuaries   South African Animal Sanctuaries
South African Animal sanctuaries focus on the conservation of rare, vulnerable or endangered animals. These sanctuaries are excellent destination for anyone interested in observing and learning about some of the most fascinating animals ranging from birds and mammals to raptors and reptiles.

Activities at Addo Elephant Park   Activities at Addo Elephant Park
Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape is home to one of the densest African elephant populations on earth and offers the visitor a variety of activities - from game viewing to hiking and horse riding.

Exceptional Trees of Southern Africa   Exceptional Trees of Southern Africa
There are many incredible trees in South Africa. Whether you make a specific trip to see some of these specimens or visit a reserve or walking trails while you are in the area, the trees will reward you for your efforts.

Eight Mountain Passes of the Eastern Cape   Eight Mountain Passes of the Eastern Cape
The 8 mountain passes, including the highest dirt road in South Africa, are perfect for 4x4 enthusiasts offers you the ultimate driving adventure over some of the highest passes in South Africa and spectacular mountain views.

The Soutpansberg   The Soutpansberg
South Africa's northern most mountain range with an amazing diversity of fauna and flora, a birder's paradise with no less than 380 bird species and also home to the sacred lake, Lake Fundudzi, where according to Venda legend, a white crocodile lives.

Umlalazi Nature Reserve   Umlalazi Nature Reserve
This ideal family holiday spot offers 20 km of unspoilt beaches, a beautiful lagoon and a variety of activities conveniently situated one km from Mtunzini on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.

The Zambezi River   The Zambezi River
The Zambezi is the fourth largest river system in Africa. It runs trough six countries before it finally ends its 2700kms journey in the Indian Ocean. Most of the river runs trough wilderness or protected areas.

Camdeboo National Park   Camdeboo National Park
Surrounding the town of Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape, visitors to Camdeboo National Park can make use of various attractions such as the Valley of Desolation, Game Viewing, walking trails and a number of picnic sites.

South African National Parks   South African National Parks
The 20 National Parks, spread througout South Africa, offer visitors an unparalleled diversity of adventure tourism opportunities.

Riverine Rabbit   Riverine Rabbit
The Riverine Rabbit is endemic to South Africa. It has an extremely limited geographic range, found only in the central and southern regions of the Karoo Desert of South Africa's Cape Province. It is one of the rarest mammals in the world and is critically endangered.

Baviaanskloof   Baviaanskloof
The Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area is a deep, twisting ravine that runs through parallel ranges of the Baviaanskloof and Kouga mountain ranges. Baviaanskloof forms part of an important World Heritage site, the Cape Floral Kingdom.

Madikwe Game Reserve   Madikwe Game Reserve
Madikwe is regarded as one of the finest conservation areas in Africa, offering all the major species, including lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, both white and black rhino along with almost all the plains antelope species.

Flowers of Namaqualand   Flowers of Namaqualand
Each spring thousands of people travel to Namaqualand to see the wild flowers. Impressive fields of colour are made up of the 5000 plant species found in this region. There is no way of predicting whether a season will be good or bad. The flowers depend on the delicate balance of winter rain and absence of hot winds.

The Snow Protea   The Snow Protea
The Snow Protea (Protea cryophilla) is a magnificent snowy white plant with flowering cones the size of the King Protea. It is found nowhere else in the world than in the Cederberg Wilderness Area.

Hangklip   Hangklip
If you are looking for an escape into nature at its best, then escape to the majestic Hangklip Coast. Just an hour out of Cape Town lies the towns of Rooi Els, Pringle Bay, Betty's Bay and Kleinmond.

The Knysna Seahorse   The Knysna Seahorse
The Knysna Sea Horse occurs only in South Africa and has been formally recognized as endangered by the IUCN. It has the most limited distribution of all seahorse species as it occurs in estuaries.

The Phinda Experience   The Phinda Experience
Phinda Game Reserve in northern Kwazulu-Natal is home to seven distinct ecosystems with a fascinating collection of wild, plant and bird-life offering an unique experience including encounters with the Big Five.

The Black-backed Jackal   The Black-backed Jackal
The Black-backed Jackal are the most abundant and widespread of the larger carnivores in sub-Saharan Africa; spending many thousands of years becoming an efficient sub-predator, adapting to and learning from the top predators around them.

The Knysna Elephants   The Knysna Elephants
In the deep-green depths of the Knysna forest lives the last, tiny remnant of the once great herds of Cape bush elephant. The Knysna Elephants are the last of the most southern elephants on the African continent.

Village with a Difference   Village with a Difference
The close proximity of Wilderness to the George airport and its location on the National Road approximately halfway between CapeTown and Port Elizabeth makes it the ideal base from which to discover the Garden Route and its surroundings.

Boulders   Boulders
Nestled in a sheltered cove between Simon's Town and Cape Point, Boulders has become world famous for its thriving colony of African Penguins and magnificent wind sheltered beaches.

Pangolins   Pangolins
The pangolin is a queer-looking, scaly animal that survives by eating ants and other insects. Surviving for over 40 million years, these strange animals are now being hunted by humans.

The Waterberg   The Waterberg
The Waterberg region, in the north west of South Africa in the Limpopo province, is known for its wide variety of wild life and has by en-large been untouched over time.

The African Fish Eagle   The African Fish Eagle
The African Fish Eagle and its distinctive sound have become synonymous with Africa. This huge bird can be spotted soaring in the African skies, in search of fish or the eggs of other, smaller birds.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Ecosystem   Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Ecosystem
The Kalahari is a vast arid region with dried-up rivers, sparse scrubland and desert with the animals concentrating in the dry riverbeds of the Auob and Nossob Rivers.

Mapungubwe - New National Park   Mapungubwe - New National Park
This new park in the Limpopo Province covers 28 000 ha at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, boasts incredible natural and cultural riches, and forms part of a project to develop a transfrontier park spanning three countries.

Rocherpan Nature Reserve   Rocherpan Nature Reserve
The Rocherpan Nature Reserve lies on the west coast of South Africa and offers visitors a chance to view bird species, small wildlife and in spring some beautiful coloured wild flowers.

Exploring Zululand Wildlife Parks   Exploring Zululand Wildlife Parks
KwaZulu Natal Wildlife parks lie spread across the subtropical plains of the east coast of KwaZulu Natal and on the upper reaches of some of its larger rivers.

Verlorevlei Nature Reserve   Verlorevlei Nature Reserve
The Verlorevlei Nature Reserve near Lambert's Bay in South Africa offers visitors a wide variety of indigenous bird species and one of the best opportunities to experience South Africa's unexplored west coast.}

The Red billed & Yellow billed Oxpecker   The Red billed & Yellow billed Oxpecker
Considered extinct as a breeding species in South Africa, the specie has reconolised parts of South Africa and although still listed as vulnerable, is now estimated to number 150 to 300 pairs. The overwhelming majority occurs in the Kruger National Park.

Namaqua Sandgrouse   Namaqua Sandgrouse
The Namaqua sandgrouse, the small bird named after the arid area it comes from, has adopted itself to the searing heat of the western parts of southern Africa in a very unique way.

Mountain Zebra National Park   Mountain Zebra National Park
Not only is the Mountain Zebra National Park a safe and scenic haven for an endangered species, but it is also one of South Africa's least known and most rewarding national parks.

Coelacanths - living fossils   Coelacanths - living fossils
Until 1938, the coelacanth fish was thought extinct, but then fishermen off the coast of South Africa found a living coelacanth, and things were never quite the same again.

The Harold Johnson Nature Reserve in KwaZulu Nata   The Harold Johnson Nature Reserve in KwaZulu Nata
Spread across the banks of the Tugela River just off the N2, the Harold Johnson Nature Reserve was once the site of an important British military camp and is now one of a chain of reserves protecting and preserving KwaZulu Natal's indigenous floral habitats.

Delicate Dancers - Butterflies of Southern Africa   Delicate Dancers - Butterflies of Southern Africa
When thinking of the wildlife of southern Africa, one tends to forget these small and fragile creatures. Yet butterflies have such beauty that they seem to be creatures from a fairytale. More than 800 species of butterflies from 9 different families can be seen in Southern Africa.

Protea   Protea
Proteas, a family of shrubs with unusual and beautiful flowers, also include the South African national flower, the King Protea.

Richtersveld National Park   Richtersveld National Park
The Richtersveld is a unique mountain desert wilderness of great beauty, tucked in the far northwestern corner of the Northern Cape in South Africa. Within this wilderness lies the Richtersveld National Park.

Cango Caves - an Underground Wonderland   Cango Caves - an Underground Wonderland
The Cango caves 26 km north of Oudtshoorn in the Klein Karoo, is one of the great wonders of the world.

The Springbok -antelope and emblem   The Springbok -antelope and emblem
South Africa is the home of the springbok, or "jumping antelope" a lithe and beautiful little animal that also serves as emblem for the South African rugby team.

The Ostrich - The Big Bird That Can't Fly   The Ostrich - The Big Bird That Can't Fly
In the Klein Karoo in South Africa, ostrich feathers were once considered a fashion necessity among the fine ladies of London, Paris and New York. Today the world's biggest birds, though flightless, are still commercially farmed in South Africa.

Jackass penguin - Spheniscus dermersus   Jackass penguin - Spheniscus dermersus
The jackass penguin (also called the African penguin or Blackfooted penguin) is a flightless seabird, and it is found nowhere in the world except off the coast of southern Africa.

Drakensberg Mountains   Drakensberg Mountains
Extending from the northwestern border of Kwazulu Natal to the Tugela Region, the Drakensberg Mountains form an area of magnificent beauty. Originally referred to as the �Dragon Mountains� by early settlers, it is nowadays affectionately known to locals as the �Berg�.

The Blue Crane - Anthropoides Paradisea   The Blue Crane - Anthropoides Paradisea
The Blue Crane is the national bird of South Africa and the symbol of one of the most important royal houses on the African continent, that of the Zulus. Although still abundant in parts of its historic range, the Blue Crane has experienced significant declines in many areas over the past couple of decades and has now officially been classified critically endangered by the IUCN.

Augrabies Falls   Augrabies Falls
About 120 km west of Upington, in a barren and desolate land of sand, scrub and rock, the broad Orange River plunges through a massive canyon in a sudden and dramatic sequence of rapids and cascades. The waters descend through the ravine to breach the main gorge. Here, the Augrabies waterfalls drop, sheer at first and then in a misty tumble of cataracts, to the turbulent, rock-enclosed pool 200 m below.

The Kokerboom and its strange Forests   The Kokerboom and its strange Forests
In the arid areas along the coast of the Northern Cape in South Africa and southwestern Namibia, the most striking single piece of vegetation is the kokerboom, which forms a forest close to the little town of Kenhardt.

Victoria Falls   Victoria Falls
Mosi-oa-Tunya - the smoke that thunders - was how locals knew Africa's most famous waterfall when missionary-explorer David Livingstone named it after Queen Victoria of Britain. Since those exploring days in the 19th century, little other than river levels has changed the physical sight of Vic Falls.

The Willem Pretorius Game Reserve   The Willem Pretorius Game Reserve
This well-known game reserve is one of the foremost recreational areas of the Free State. It has been developed on the north-western shores of the Allemanskraal Dam, covering some 12 005 hectares with a great variety of game and bird species.

Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary   Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary
This sanctuary is a tranquil retreat for the weary and a scenic family paradise offering horse & bike trails, gamedrives, walks and bird viewing

Mkhaya Game Reserve   Mkhaya Game Reserve
Mkhaya, Swaziland`s refuge for endangered species, has its main focus on bringing you closer to nature and is a modern day success story for rhino conservation

Witsand Nature Reserve   Witsand Nature Reserve
The Witsand Reserve in the Kalahari is spectacular as it is a 3500 ha island of dazzling white sand encircled by the sea of conventional Kalahari red sand.

Elephants   Elephants
The largest of the Big Five, the elphant is also the largest landbased mammal in the world.

The Strange Sausage Tree   The Strange Sausage Tree
The tree is one of the exceptional trees of the Kruger National Park. Its name is derived from the fact that the fruit of the tree resembles a sausage.

The Secretive Modjadji   The Secretive Modjadji
The Modjadji Nature Reserve was named after the secretive Rain Queen, Modjadji. The mystique remains to this day and the current successor still lives in her capital adjacent to the original kraal.

Jackass Penguin Population Is Dwindling   Jackass Penguin Population Is Dwindling
The Jackass Penguin population is listed as "vulnerable endemic", because it has lost at least three quarters of its population this century.One reason is the fact that oil discharged from vessels rounding the Cape of Good Hope was having a major impact on the seabird population.

Fynbos - The economic importance of Fynbos   Fynbos - The economic importance of Fynbos
It is the smallest Floral Kingdom in the world and in quite a league of its own. The Cape Floral Kingdom contains 526 of the world's 740 erica species, 96 out of the world's 160 gladiolus species and 69 proteas out of 112 on earth.

Fynbos - Thriving in the Face of Adversity   Fynbos - Thriving in the Face of Adversity
Fynbos makes up four-fifths of the Cape Floral Kingdom, which covers an area of less than 90 000 square kilometres (the size of Malawi or Portugal) and hosts 8 600 plant species.

Saving the Cape Vulture   Saving the Cape Vulture
The Cape vulture is endemic to southern Africa and their numbers have recently been declining at an alarming rate.

Fynbos - Veld Types   Fynbos - Veld Types
The following has been recognised as part of the Cape Floral Kingdom: The Mountain Fynbos, Coastal fynbos, Strandveld, and Coastal Rhenosterbosveld.

Fynbos   Fynbos
Fynbos is the term given to a collection of plants (a vegetation type) that are mainly shrubs and is comprised of species belonging to South Africa's southwestern and southern Cape.

Welwitshia - the living fossil plant   Welwitshia - the living fossil plant
This is one of the largest and strangest plants known to science. It is possibly the plant with the longest life. Carbon - 14 tests have shown that some plants are 750 years old and can become far over 1 000 years old.

Mass Suicide of the Whales   Mass Suicide of the Whales
The first appearance of the False Killer whale in South Africa was in 1928. A school of about a hundred flung themselves on to the beach near Cape Point.

The Rock Wilderness Of The Cedarberg   The Rock Wilderness Of The Cedarberg
A magnificent view awaits you at the summit of the Nieuwoudt Pass. To your left are the Krakadouw Mountains and in front is the high Middelberg ridge. Further ahead lies the Algeria forest area.

Zulu Nyala - Game Lodge   Zulu Nyala - Game Lodge
Experience an African Affair in the heart of Zululand at one of the prime Game Lodges in South Africa.

MalaMala Game Reserve   MalaMala Game Reserve
The wild dog is Africa's most endangered carnivore. Being regarded as vermin the wild dogs have been almost exterminated. MalaMala offers guests the unique experience to spot the almost extinct wild dog.

The Greatest Biosphere In South Africa   The Greatest Biosphere In South Africa
Mkuzi in Zululand is home to large communities of hippo, crocodile and aquatic bird life. The reserve has 100km of tourist roads for game drives and several picnic spots.

Africa's Weirdest Tree   Africa's Weirdest Tree
In the Limpopo town of Musina one finds a bloated almost laughable tree resembling a hobgoblin. David Livingstone called it a `carrot planted upside down.'