Fynbos is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate and rainy winters. The fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. In fields related to biogeography, fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of biodiversity and endemism, consisting of about 80% species of the Cape floral kingdom, where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic. This land continues to face severe human-caused threats, but due to the many economic uses of the fynbos, conservation efforts are being made to help restore it.
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.
The geometric tortoise is a critically endangered species of tortoise and one of three members of the genus Psammobates. It is found in a very small section in the South-Western Cape of South Africa.
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.
Atlantis Sand Fynbos is a critically endangered fynbos vegetation type that occurs to the north of Cape Town, in the Western Cape, South Africa.
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.
Swartland Alluvium Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type that occurs on the high plains and mountains in the far south-west of the Western Cape, South Africa.
Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type that is endemic to Cape Town. Though closest to Fynbos, it has characteristics of both Fynbos and Renosterveld vegetation and is thus actually a unique hybrid vegetation type.
Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type occurring in the far south of the Western Cape, South Africa.
Mamre Nature Garden is a 254-hectare (630-acre) nature reserve in Cape Town, South Africa, located on the city's northern outskirts. The reserve has a high degree of biodiversity and preserving the endangered Atlantis Sand Fynbos vegetation type and the plants and animals that live in it. In addition, the reserve has an important cultural history.
Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area is a 52-hectare (130-acre) nature reserve, situated in the centre of Kenilworth Racecourse, in Cape Town, South Africa. Due to its location, it has been left undisturbed for more than 100 years, making it now the best preserved patch of “Cape Flats Sand Fynbos” in the world.
De Hel Nature Area is a 21.3-hectare (53-acre) nature reserve protecting a river valley and indigenous forest on the lower eastern slopes of Table Mountain, 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.
Edith Stephens Wetland Park is a nature reserve for wetlands and fynbos, located in the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
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.
Bracken Nature Reserve is a 36-hectare (89-acre) piece of protected land in Brackenfell in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Durbanville Nature Reserve is a 6-hectare (15-acre) piece of protected land, located next to the Hollywoodbets Durbanville Racecourse in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Helderberg Nature Reserve is a 398-hectare (980-acre) nature reserve in Somerset West, South Africa.
Blaauwberg Nature Reserve was proclaimed a local and provincial nature reserve in 2007. The reserve has views down fynbos slopes, across the city, to seven kilometres of rocky and sandy coastline and the ocean and beyond. The reserve presents itself as one of the few viewpoints in the world from where you can see two proclaimed world heritage sites, namely Table Mountain and Robben Island.
