Rondevlei Nature Reserve
| Rondevlei Nature Reserve | |
|---|---|
 View from one of the observation towers over Rondevlei towards Muizenberg. | |
 Location of Rondevlei Nature Reserve | |
| Location | Cape Town, South Africa |
| Coordinates | 34°03′45″S 18°30′00″E / 34.06250°S 18.50000°E |
| Area | 290 ha (720 acres) |
| Established | 1952 |
  Rondevlei Nature Reserve (South Africa)  Rondevlei Nature Reserve (Western Cape) | |
Sacred ibis
flying above Rondevlei.The Rondevlei Nature Reserve is located in
indigenous coastal fynbos vegetation
with unique plants found nowhere else in the world.
In February 2004, a young hippo
bullied by an older dominant male and was on the run for 10 months until it was caught in December and moved to an Eastern Cape
private reserve.
History
The reserve was established in 1952 in cooperation with the Cape Divisional Council (now Cape Metropolitan Council), when the area was still used by locals to graze
flooding of the built-up areas, which contained then mainly sub-economic housing, a dam at the south-eastern end of the vlei was built to permanently lower the level of Rondevlei. The management of the reserve was taken over by the South Peninsula Municipality in 1997 and it is now part of the City of Cape Town
.
Facilities
The facilities in the reserve include an about 1 km (0.62 mi) long waterside
shoreline with six bird hides and two large wooden observation towers, a terrarium and aquarium, as well as the Leonard Gill museum and an environmental
education centre with lecture theater and resource centre.
Besides birdwatching visitors are offered guided tours, boat cruises, conference facilities and secluded overnight accommodation within the reserve which are organized by a community-based company, Imvubu Nature Tours, which was established in 2002 with the use of poverty relief funds, made available by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
See also
- Boulders Beach
- Cape Flats Dune Strandveld
- Cape Flats Sand Fynbos
- Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland
- Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
External links
Media related to Rondevlei Nature Reserve at Wikimedia Commons
- False Bay Ecology Park web site
- Friends of Zeekoeivlei and Rondevlei's web site
- Press release about the introduction of 3 new hippos in 2003
- Article in Cape Times about escaped hippo
- Google map
