Secrets of Rare Renosterveld

Alight, dawn mist hangs over the rolling, wind-still landscape as I head out along the gravel roads of the Overberg farmlands in the Western Cape. Skeins of Egyptian and Spur-winged Geese, African Sacred Ibis and Cattle Egrets are returning to their daytime roosts, and the calls of Blue Cranes (6 on checklist) carry across the quiet. My destination today is one of the few remaining patches of Endangered renosterveld, at Haarwegskloof Renosterveld Reserve and research centre.

Haarwegskloof is 500 hectares in size and, together with the 1 000-hectare neighbouring properties of Luiperdkop and Plaatjieskraal, forms the largest, most contiguous piece of lowland renosterveld in the Overberg, and in the world. With a slightly greater plant diversity than fynbos, renosterveld is facing ongoing threats as a result of habitat destruction due to farming, and now less than five