Zeekoevlei

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Zeekoevlei
Zeekoevlei Nature Reserve - Cape Town.jpg
Zeekoevlei Nature Reserve on the Cape Flats of Cape Town, with the edge of Table Mountain visible in the background
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Zeekoevlei
Location Western Cape Province, South Africa
Coordinates 34°04′S18°31′E / 34.067°S 18.517°E / -34.067; 18.517 Coordinates: 34°04′S18°31′E / 34.067°S 18.517°E / -34.067; 18.517
Type lake
Surface area258 hectares (640 acres)

Zeekoevlei is a freshwater lake on the Cape Flats in Cape Town, Western Cape Province, South Africa. [1] The lake is 258 hectares (640 acres) in area. [2] The name means hippopotamus pond or marsh, with "vlei" being Afrikaans for a shallow minor lake, often seasonal, and zeekoe (literally "sea-cow") being Dutch for hippopotamus. The Afrikaans word for hippopotamus,"seekoei", descends from the Dutch.

Zeekoevlei Nature Reserve (established in June 2000) is based on the lake. The total area of the reserve is 344 hectares (850 acres). [2] It is separated by a peninsula from the Rondevlei Nature Reserve and preserves endangered Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland ecosystems. [3]

Zeekoevlei is used for recreational rowing and sailing.

See also

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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.

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References

  1. ZEEKOEVLEI
  2. 1 2 "Module 6 - South Reserves - Zeekoevlei Nature Reserve". planet.botany.uwc.ac.za. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  3. "Zeekoevlei"