EXPEDITION WILD
Wolkberg - Wonderwoud
In search of wonderland - the remote indigenous forests of the Wolkberg
Expedition Basics:
3 day recce into the Wolberg Mountains.
With limited trail information available, we packed for a 3 day walk, one day in, one day exploration and one day out.
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Overview:
The Wolkberg is a surprisingly unknown corner of South Africa comprising of a vast mountain wilderness extending over 100 000 ha or 1000 square km. The limited access to this area has no doubt saved it from exploitation aided by the fact that large portions of the area have been formally protected as provincial nature reserve. Our mission with the limited time we had was to get into the heart of the area and try access or scope the access to some of the large indigenous forests in the area.
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Description:
Wonderwoud or The Wonder Forest is a large 450ha indigenous forest patch, said to be the largest on the Eastern Escarpment of Southern Africa, and is truly a sight to see and explore. This forest and adjoining forest patches represents an important part of the last remaining Afromontane forests in the region. These forests are home to the Southernmost distribution of a number of plant species but significantly is also home to the most Northern distribution of the Cape Parrot, South Africa’s only endemic parrot.
The region with its characteristic grassland biome punctuated by these Afromontane patches is home to a diverse fauna and flora, with 18 bird species on the Red Data list, including the Black-fronted Bush-shrike (endemic to the area), Black Rumped Buttonquail and South Africa’s most endangered avian the Blue Swallow. The area is also home to a number of mammals notably the Brown hyaena, Leopard, Black-backed jackal and Grey Rhebok amongst others.
The Wolkberg and its forest strongholds are an important reservoir of plant and animal species that help maintain both viable populations and the genetic diversity of these fragmented populations in the region
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