On Monday, 12 September 2022, friends and colleagues from across the Western Cape conservation sector came together to celebrate the much-anticipated premier of The Ghosts of Table Mountain. This inspiring film, which has been years in the making, reveals the secret life of the Critically
Flies are such tiny creatures - at a glance, just wings and eyes. Yet these seemingly simple insects are among the most important pollinators on the planet. As they have evolved to fulfil this fundamental role in ecosystems across the globe, many species have adapted
The Greek God The word Protea is believed to have been derived from the name of the Greek God ‘Proteus,’ who was able to take on many different forms. This is not surprising, given the huge variety of Proteas to be found across South Africa
As we gear up to celebrate Heritage Day tomorrow it seems fitting for us to think back across the centuries to what has shaped our nation. We have a diverse and often volatile history which has,over the centuries, seen a number of wars (generally disputes
Not so long ago, I had the privilege of sitting in the dappled shade of a magnificent Clanwilliam cedar tree. The 12 o’clock sun was baking, and we were scrambling uphill, rock-hopping, missioning, endlessly, until among the stark, Cederberg sandstone came a brief moment of
One of the key values of protected areas is to ensure that the biodiversity of a biome is protected and allowed to function in accordance with natural processes. The Cape Floristic Kingdom is the richest of the world’s six plant kingdoms, proportional to size, and
When Vasco Da Gama first rounded the Cape a few hundred years ago, African Penguins numbered in their millions. Today, the global population stands at around 30 000 pairs and with the population of this iconic seabird falling at 20% per annum (equating to a
Photo Credit: Peter Chadwick To celebrate Reptile Awareness Day we look at one of the most misunderstood animals on the planet, a reptile that strikes fear into the hearts of most mortals. Sharing a top spot with spiders, there are few things, if any, that terrify
Even more productive than both the rivers and the oceans that influence them, estuaries are some of our most important coastal ecological features. They are a transition zone where fish, animals and birds congregate to feed, find refuge and grow to adulthood. They are unique
The Cape Sugarbird is one of two endemic sugarbird species to be found in South Africa and is restricted to the Cape Floristic Kingdom between the Cedarberg Mountains and the Buffalo River near East London, where its distribution is linked to the occurrence of Protea