Kogelberg Nature Reserve
| Kogelberg Nature Reserve | |
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 Map of Cape Town
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| Location | Cape Town, South Africa |
| Coordinates | 34°12′07″S 18°51′05″E / 34.2019°S 18.8513°ECoordinates: 34°12′07″S 18°51′05″E / 34.2019°S 18.8513°E |
| Area | 3,000 ha (7,400 acres) |
Kogelberg Nature Reserve is a large (3,000 ha (7,400 acres)) and important nature reserve comprising the Kogelberg Mountain Range, to the east of Cape Town, South Africa.
With about 1600 plant species, it contains a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world.
Located in the Kogelberg Mountains, along the mountainous coast on the eastern edge of Cape Town, this 3,000-hectare (7,400-acre) nature reserve protects a significant portion of Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos. Among the enormous range of plants in this local vegetation type are hundreds of species of Erica, a wide range of Protea species and a great many plant families which are endemic. The Kogelberg mountains are known as the heart of the Fynbos, and have a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world.
In addition to its unique mountain fynbos, other ecosystems include wetlands, as well as the riparian vegetation of the Palmiet River, which is the most untouched in the south western Cape and are home to forests of indigenous trees such as Wild Almond, Butter-spoon, Rapanea and Yellowwoods. Shady montane forests exist in several spots - like Louwsbos, Platbos and Oudebos - where relic Southern Afrotemperate Forests grow in the ravines and river valleys.
The aboriginal inhabitants of the Kogelberg mountains were the San hunter-gatherers and the Khoi herders, whose shell-middens and burial areas can still be found. During the early colonial era, explorers occasionally penetrated the mountains and reported on the area's unusual beauty and teeming wildlife, however no permanent settlements were made, as the landscape was considered far too extreme and inaccessible for farming. The Kogelberg region therefore remained almost pristine. In the early 19th century the whole area was designated "Crown Land" by the government of the Cape Colony, and over a hundred years later, in 1935, the rugged area finally became accessible, when a road was built. This brought about rapid change, as the Department of Forestry took over the region in 1937 and declared its intention of using the area for state timber plantations.
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Wikipedia