Thandi Conservation Area

Nestled in the picturesque Elgin Valley you will find the beautiful Thandi Wine Estate, renowned for being the world’s first wine brand to achieve Fairtrade certification. The farm is owned by the Lebanon Fruit Farm Trust, a remarkable Land Reform project started in 1996 to ensure farmworkers could actively participate in the economic gains of farming.

Deeply committed to conservation efforts, Thandi actively contributes to conserving the region’s biodiversity, and in 2012 the Lebanon Fruit Farm Trust signed a 10-year Biodiversity Agreement with CapeNature, which was extended for a further 30-year period in 2022. This agreement conserves 27.89 ha of the estate which is home to Critically Endangered Elgin Shale Fynbos. After a recent evaluation of the property’s biodiversity, ecologists and managers proposed upgrading its protection status to a ‘Contract Nature Reserve’. The whole conservation area is now in a maintenance phase, and there is the possibility of extending it further with a portion of land currently being cleared of alien vegetation.

𝘛𝘔𝘍’𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 CapeNature’𝘴 𝘉𝘪𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 Conservation Outcomes 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘳𝘦𝘢.