South Africa, Cape Town, nature Walks, Wetlands, Rondevlei, Bird watching

nature walk: The wetlands of Rondevlei

Including guiding, tea and snack, entrance fee, transfer from city bowl

Half day tour with transfer: ZAR 375,-

Good news for nature-lovers: you don’t need to travel endless miles to escape the urban crush, nor are you obliged to resign yourself to sharing the great outdoors with busloads of like-minded tourists. Just fifteen minutes from central Cape Town, in the unassuming suburb of Grassy Park, lies one of the Cape’s better-kept natural secrets: Rondevlei Nature Reserve.

Our Rondevlei nature walk presents the perfect opportunity to acquaint yourself with some of our region’s most precious flora and fauna, while at the same time refreshing your spirit in this changeless and ever-changing haven of dunes and dark water.

Established as a protected area in 1952, the reserve consists of a single large vlei, or marshy lagoon, sheltered between windswept coastal dunes. The 2.2 square kilometre wetland sanctuary is primarily a refuge for birds, providing safe berth and breeding grounds for some of the 225-odd species that have been listed here. By taking advantage of the six hides that have been erected around the territory, the patient birdwatcher may be rewarded with glimpses of White Pelican, Greater Flamingo, African Spoonbill and Caspian Tern, among others.
On our guided walk you will also have the chance to spot Cape clawless otters, porcupines, caracal, Cape fox, grysbuck, steenbuck, mongoose, and of course, the always-impressive resident hippopotamus population. Re-introduced to the area in 1981, the Rondevlei hippos have become a much-loved addition to the local landscape. Keep cameras handy in case they decide to ‘say cheese’ as only a hippo can. But treat them with respect: that formidable grin is capable of halving a human being!

The sand plains surrounding the vlei are equally important as a natural habitat, not least because it is on this increasingly rare strandveld-type terrain that our unique and endangered Cape Floral Kingdom flourishes. Listen as your guide tells you all about the little miracle that is fynbos (“fine bush”): the small yet extraordinarily diverse plant phylum endemic to the Western Cape. These hardy plants play a vital role in the eco-system of the region, and have also long been revered by South Africa’s indigenous peoples for their manifold medicinal and culinary uses.
Indoors, you can wrap up your visit with a taste of some contemporary twists on this idiosyncratic cuisine by enjoying Rondevlei’s own Fynbos tea and Fynbos cake.
Here you can also amuse yourself with a close-up look up at some of the Cape’s more elusive wrigglers, hoppers and burrowers: various snakes and lizards, a Cape Dwarf Chameleon colony, terrapins, frogs, gerbils, and a pair of porcupines are all kept on the premises. There is also a freshwater aquarium, which will put you at eye-level with many of the vlei’s natives, including Common Carp, Mirror carp, Banded and Mozambique Tilapia, Mullet, and swimming crabs.

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