Edith Stephens Wetland Park | |
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Location | Cape Town, South Africa |
Coordinates | 34°00′05″S18°33′07″E / 34.00147°S 18.55183°E |
Area | 39 ha (96 acres) |
Edith Stephens Wetland Park is a nature reserve for wetlands and fynbos, located in the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
The park consists of a large seasonal wetland, with surrounding stretches of Cape Flats Sand Fynbos and Cape Flats Dune Strandveld vegetation. [1] Seven Red Data plant species have been recorded here as well as nearly a hundred species of bird, several amphibians (including a population of endangered Western Leopard Toad), reptiles and mammals. The 39-hectare (96-acre) park was originally built around a smaller piece of land that was donated by the botanist Edith Layard Stephens. She intended it to preserve the rare Isoetes capensis plant, which exists nowhere else on Earth. After subsequent additions to take it to its present size, the resulting park was named after her.
The park is run by the City of Cape Town in partnership with the local community. It now has an Environmental Education Centre, boardwalk trails, a picnic area, a bird hide and a garden of medicinal plants. [2] [3]
The Rondevlei Nature Reserve is located in Grassy Park, Zeekoevlei and Lavenderhill, suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. The bird sanctuary covers approximately 290 hectares of mostly permanent wetland and consists of a single large brackish lagoon. The nature reserve is among the most important wetlands for birds in South Africa despite being situated directly alongside the Zeekoevlei. A number of islands on the vlei act as vital breeding sites. Rondevlei is home to about 230 bird species, a variety of small mammals and reptiles like caracal, porcupine, Cape fox, grysbuck, steenbuck and mongoose, as well as a hippopotamus population which was re-introduced in 1981 as a means to control an alien grass species from South America, which had covered the shoreline and was threatening to engulf the vlei itself. It boasts unusual and threatened ecosystems like strandveld, sand plains fynbos, Cape lowland wetland vegetation and indigenous coastal fynbos vegetation with unique plants found nowhere else in the world.
The Cape Floral Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only floristic region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, and includes only one floristic province, known as the Cape Floristic Province.
Helderberg refers to a planning district of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the mountain after which it is named, a wine-producing area in the Western Cape province of South Africa, or a small census area in Somerset West.
Rondebosch Common is an open common of about 40 hectares in Rondebosch, Cape Town in South Africa. A common is defined as "a piece of open land for public use, esp. in a village or town". It contains one of the few surviving pockets of the critically endangered “Cape Flats Sand Fynbos” vegetation type, which exists nowhere else in the world.
The Milnerton Racecourse Nature Reserve is a lowland conservation area located in the City of Cape Town, South Africa.
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Cape Flats Dune Strandveld is an endangered vegetation type. This is a unique type of Cape Strandveld that is endemic to the coastal areas around Cape Town, including the Cape Flats.
Cape Flats Sand Fynbos (CFSF), previously known as Sand Plain Fynbos, is a critically endangered vegetation type that occurs only within the city of Cape Town. Less than 1% of this unique lowland fynbos vegetation is conserved.
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Zandvlei Estuary Nature Reserve is a 300-hectare (740-acre) nature reserve and recreational area located in Muizenberg near Cape Town, South Africa.
Meadowridge Common is an 8-hectare (20-acre) reserve in the Meadowridge suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, which preserves a fragment of critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos vegetation.
Witzands Aquifer Nature Reserve is a 3,000-hectare (7,400-acre) protected natural area in Cape Town, South Africa, located on the city's northern outskirts. This reserve protects an important part of Cape Town's natural and cultural heritage, including the Atlantis Aquifer. It is adjacent to the Koeberg Nature Reserve.
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