Wildlife-Expressions

South Africa is blessed with some of the most diverse coastline and oceans in the world. These harbor a vast array of differing habitats and associated species between the warm Agulhas Current on the east coast and the cold Benguela Current on the west coast of South Africa.  We are additionally blessed to have a fairly good network of 21 coastal Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) and the South African Department of Environmental Affairs – Branch: Oceans & Coasts has also committed to proclaiming additional MPA’s in habitats which are currently un-protected or un-represented, such as the Namaqualand Coast and off-shore areas.

The eland, which is the largest of the African antelope, gained its name from the Dutch word eland which means elk. It is one of the most adaptable of antelopes, equally at home in savannah, sub-desert, woodland and mountainous areas up to 4600m. It is this adaptability that has enabled it to survive in the harsh climatic conditions and rugged terrain of the Drakensberg Mountains. Early farmers in the Drakensberg recalled, that prior to mans intensive habitation of the KwaZulu Natal midlands, the eland used to migrate in winter on an annual basis, from the mountains into the lower bushveld areas, such as the Tugela valley. Today, however, they are confined mainly to within the protected boundaries of the uKuhlamba/Drakensberg Park.

The Cape Floristic Kingdom (CFK) is situated in the southern tip of South Africa and stretches from Niewoudville in the north across to Port Elizabeth in the east. Oceans bound it to the south and west and the arid Karoo to the north and east. It covers only 90 000 square kilometres, but contains the highest diversity of plant life in the world. It is a “hotspot” of biodiversity with over 8500 species of plants, which occupy only 0.5% of the African continent, but encompasses 20% of the total plant species. Five of South Africa’s six biomes are found within its borders.

For this weeks blog, I thought II would provide the background to my winning image in the Gerald Durrell - Endangered Wildlife Category at this years Veolia Environnment Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award. I was interviewd at Nature Live in the Natural History Museum in London and I have included the summary of my interview questions.

In the last ten or so years there has been a huge change in the thinking of how best to protect the environment and how to develop strategies into the future. This change has altered from an almost dictatorial approach whereby Protected Areas were defended from the boundary fences inwards and whereby “rules were rules”, allowing for very little change in progressive thinking. The overriding needs of the communities surrounding Protected Areas where not taken into consideration. This approach often leads to conflict between conservation and neighbours, with the community at large being against conservation. At the same time, there was very little understanding from the population as a whole as to why conservation is important. New approaches are needed to ensure a more consultative approach whereby the needs of the surrounding communities and Protected Areas are both taken into consideration. There needs to be a huge drive to get the community to support conservation and to understand conservation necessity.

The southern Cape gains its fame as a well-known tourist destination, through the Garden Route and Cango Caves at Oudtshoorn. Within this strip of coastline and mountainous interior there are a wide variety of habitats, ranging from the lush coastal plains and fynbos covered mountains through to the succulent Karoo. The area is also richly endowed with rivers, which provide the perfect opportunity to carry out birding through the relaxed and scenically spectacular method of canoeing.

The Cape Mountain Zebra’s entire population is restricted to the southern mountains of the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces and at the turn of the century was at the brink of extinction, reaching a total low population of around ninety animals in the 1920’s. The reason for their decline in numbers was as a result of hunting, habitat destruction and competition with farmers for grazing. Thanks to the focussed efforts of farmers in the Cradock area of the Eastern Cape and to a number of concentrated conservation initiatives the numbers in 2000 stood around 1200 individuals. Even with this excellent recovery in population numbers the species still retains the dubious status of “endangered” in the IUCN’’s red data book of threatened species.

Estuaries are among some of our most important coastal ecological features and rank along with tropical rainforests and coral reefs as the world's most productive ecosystems – they are even more productive than both the rivers and the ocean that influence them from either side. Estuaries are a transition zone where fish, birds and animals of all sorts congregate to feed, find refuge, grow to adulthood, and stage migrations. They are unique places, strongly affected by tidal action, where land and river and sea merge into a dynamic natural complex.

What to expect:

Given the protected status of the coastline and given the diversity of coastal habitats that are richly packed with invertebrate food sources, De Hoop Nature Reserve and Marine Protected Area is a haven for coastal bird species. Summer months are particularly worthwhile for viewing these birds as an influx of migrant waders join the resident species and one can expect to view African Black Oystercatcher, Kelp Gull, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, White-Fronted Plover, Whimbrel and Grey Plover. A scan with binoculars out to sea will add Cape Cormorant, Cape Gannet, Swift, Caspian and Sandwich Terns and for the lucky even Sub-Antarctic Skuas and the endangered African Penguin. The intertidal sandstone platforms at Koppie Alleen form the richest feeding grounds and several species can be viewed simultaneously.

A year ago, I had the privilege of spending some time working on Cousin Island in the Seychelles. The island is a special nature reserve managed by Nature Seychelles. In today’s society where there is much debate about the importance of protecting the environment and deciding how best to restore critical areas to their natural state, Cousin Island stands out as a global leader, showcasing that it is possible and that in fact is the better option.