31-479: Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve is a nature reserve consisting of veld and koppies (hills) run by the Johannesburg City Parks . It is located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) south of Johannesburg , in an area of 640 hectares (1,600 acres). Home to many species of flora and bird life, it is also home to large and small mammals such as blesbok , zebra , wildebeest and duiker . The reserve has
62-758: A 180-million-year-old failed rift valley cuts into Southern Africa's central plateau and locally obliterates the Great Escarpment , is known as the Lowveld . The Limpopo and Save rivers run from the central African highlands via the Lowveld into the Indian Ocean to the east. The Limpopo Lowveld extends southwards, east of the Drakensberg escarpment through Mpumalanga Province and ultimately into eastern Eswatini . This southern limb of
93-526: A number of hiking trails and archaeological sites, with the Bloubosspruit flowing through the area. Prehistory saw the area inhabited by stone age man who hunted in the area with the location claimed to have the highest concentration of identified Iron Age sites on the Witwatersrand with the discovery of artefacts dating back 250,000 years. The Sotho-Tswana peoples would later settle in
124-474: A particular pattern of growth, rarely covering the whole terrain and thus leaving patches of sandy soil exposed on the surface. Some of the typical sandveld species are Acacia haematoxylon , A. luederitzii , Boscia albitrunca , Terminalia sericea , Lonchocarpus nelsii , Bauhinia petersiana and Baphia massaiensis . Hardveld is a term applied to certain rocky soil areas in Botswana, mostly in
155-551: Is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs , often also including grasses , herbs , and geophytes . Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as fire. A stable state may be maintained by regular natural disturbance such as fire or browsing . Shrubland may be unsuitable for human habitation because of
186-462: Is a descriptive system widely adopted in Australia to describe different types of vegetation is based on structural characteristics based on plant life-form , plus the height and foliage cover of the tallest stratum or dominant species . For shrubs that are 2–8 metres (6.6–26.2 ft) high, the following structural forms are categorized: For shrubs less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) high,
217-401: Is a type of semi-arid savanna in which grassland with thorny acacia and certain species of thorny bushes predominate. The predominant plant species are usually different in the thornveld of the plains or in the hill thornveld, where, for example, species of genus Balanites are common. Some of the characteristic species in the thornveld include: Sandveld, in the general sense of the word,
248-517: Is a type of veld characterised by dry, sandy soil, typical of certain areas of the Southern African region. It usually absorbs all water from the seasonal rains, although aquatic habitats, largely seasonal, may be also found in specific places in the sandveld. Only certain hardy plant species thrive in the sandveld environment. These consist especially of grasses forming clumps and certain kinds of trees and shrubs. The sandveld vegetation has
279-409: Is said to be between 650—700 species of plants in the reserve. Over 340 wild flowers, 67 tree and shrub types as well as 70 grasses species have been catalogued. The fenced reserve is open all year round from dawn to dusk. The ruins of Marais' farmhouse, wagon shelter and family cemetery can still be seen today. There are also nine trails to hike, amounting to 20 kilometres (12 mi). To the north of
310-633: The Bushveld by the World Wide Fund for Nature . Trees are not abundant—frost, fire and grazing animals allow grass to grow, but prevent the build-up of dense foliage. The word veld ( Afrikaans pronunciation: [fɛlt] ) comes from the Afrikaans word for "field". The etymological origin is older modern Dutch veldt , a spelling that the Dutch abandoned in favour of veld during
341-708: The California coast, strandveld in the Western Cape of South Africa , coastal matorral in central Chile , and sand-heath and kwongan in Southwest Australia . Interior scrublands occur naturally in semi-arid areas where soils are nutrient-poor, such as on the matas of Portugal , which are underlain by Cambrian and Silurian schists . Florida scrub is another example of interior scrublands. Some vegetation types are formed of dwarf-shrubs : low-growing or creeping shrubs. These include
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#1732772944580372-587: The Limpopo river . These higher, cooler areas (generally more than 1,500 metres or 4,900 feet above sea level) are characterised by flat or gently undulating terrain, vast grasslands and a modified tropical or subtropical climate . To the east, the Highveld's border is marked by the Great Escarpment , or the Mpumalanga Drakensberg . Still, the boundary is often arbitrary and not apparent in
403-782: The Mediterranean scrub biome , located in the five Mediterranean climate regions of the world. Scrublands are most common near the seacoast and have often adapted to the wind and salt air of the ocean. Low, soft-leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean Basin are known as garrigue in France , phrygana in Greece , tomillares in Spain , and batha in Israel . Northern coastal scrub and coastal sage scrub occur along
434-618: The 19th century, decades before the first Afrikaans dictionary. A cognate to the English field , it was spelt velt in Middle Dutch and felt in Old Dutch . The climate of the veld is highly variable, but its general pattern is mild winters from May to September and hot or very hot summers from November to March, with moderate or considerable variations in daily temperatures and abundant sunshine. Precipitation mostly occurs in
465-532: The Highveld. Temperature is closely related to elevation. In general, the mean July (winter) temperatures range between 7 °C (45 °F) in the Lesotho Highlands and 16 °C (61 °F) in the Lowveld. January (summer) temperatures range between 18 °C (64 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F). In Zimbabwe the precipitation averages around 750–900 millimetres (30–35 in) on the Highveld, dropping to less than 350 millimetres (14 in) in
496-509: The Lowveld is bounded by South Africa 's border with Mozambique to the east and the northeastern part of Drakensberg to the west. This region is generally hotter and less intensely cultivated than the Highveld. Until the mid-20th century, the Lowveld was still infested by the tsetse fly which transmits the sleeping sickness called nagana among the Zulus . Thornveld (also thorn veld or thornveldt), often referred to as "acacia thornveld",
527-632: The Rietvlei farm part of which is the reserve today, and used it for grazing and peach farming. His descendants would eventually sell the farm in 1914 to the Quilliam family who used it for dairy farming and as a piggery. By 1939, the Quilliam family had sold the land to the City of Johannesburg . After the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand, the shortage of water saw a proposal to build a dam in
558-466: The area in the 1400s and would leave the location around 1800 when possibly climate changes and the movement of more militant tribes into the area saw their departure to Botswana . Their lifestyle consisted of animal husbandry and the growing millet , sorghum and later maize imported into Africa by the Portuguese traders. Around 1850, Voorttrekker Sarel Marais bought land on a western portion of
589-434: The danger of fire. The term was coined in 1903. Shrubland species generally show a wide range of adaptations to fire, such as heavy seed production, lignotubers , and fire-induced germination. In botany and ecology a shrub is defined as a much-branched woody plant less than 8 m high and usually with many stems . Tall shrubs are mostly 2–8 m high, small shrubs 1–2 m high and subshrubs less than 1 m high. There
620-672: The defence of Johannesburg against the southern advance of the British forces under Lord Roberts from the direction of Vereeniging . In the late 1970s residents of the area petitioned the Johannesburg City Council to declare the area as nature reserve. The council asked the residents to form an association to assist the council in the proposed reserves management and was formed as the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve Association;
651-538: The eastern part of the country. The landscape is an undulating plain with scattered rocky hill ranges. There are areas of hardveld also in South Africa in the mountainous central Kamiesberg of the Northern Cape with hilly escarpments and deep river valleys. The soil of the hardveld is characterised by rocky outcrops, as well as an abundance of stones and pebbles of different shapes and sizes. The flora of
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#1732772944580682-573: The following structural forms are categorized: Similarly, shrubland is a category used to describe a type of biome plant group. In this context, shrublands are dense thickets of evergreen sclerophyll shrubs and small trees, called: In some places, shrubland is the mature vegetation type, and in other places, the result of degradation of former forest or woodland by logging or overgrazing , or disturbance by major fires. A number of World Wildlife Fund biomes are characterized as shrublands, including: Xeric or desert scrublands occur in
713-494: The hardveld is typical of rocky savanna , with denser vegetation and thus less denuded patches than in the sandveld, as well as taller trees. There is also a higher diversity of species in the hardveld compared with the sandveld. Peltophorum africanum , Acacia nigrescens , A. tortilis , Combretum apiculatum and Colophospermum mopane are some of the representative species of the northern hardveld. Scrubland Shrubland , scrubland , scrub , brush , or bush
744-432: The lowest areas of the Lowveld. Temperatures are slightly higher than in South Africa. Over the entire veld, seasonal and annual average rainfall variations of up to 40 percent are common. Damaging drought affects at least half the area about once every three or four years; it reduces plant and animal biomass to sustainable levels again. Everywhere the average number of hours of annual sunshine varies from 60 to 80 percent of
775-447: The nature reserve was proclaimed in 1984. Large mammals such as Black Wildebeest , Blesbok, Springbok , Red Hartebeest and Zebra are found in the reserve with approximately 240 of these large animals. Also found are numerous small mammals. 215 species of bird life have been recorded in the reserve as well as snakes , geckos , lizards , skinks and terrapins . It is also a haven for insect life such as butterflies and spiders. There
806-717: The northern part of the reserve. To be called the Vierfontein Dam, work ended on it as the Second Boer War broke out and all that remains across the spruit is the remains of a weir . After the war, the proposal was found to be uneconomical and the Rand Water Board chose the Vaal Dam barrage as a better option. During the Second Boer War , the hills around the reserve were used by Boers in
837-462: The other directions. The blesbok and quagga were among the large animals that once roamed on the highveld in great numbers. Nowadays, there still is a sizeable population of springbok in some areas, . However, much of the area is devoted to Balls farming and South Africa's largest conurbation ( Gauteng Province ). The lowlands, below about 500 m (1,640 ft) altitude, along South Africa's northern border with Botswana and Zimbabwe , where
868-680: The reserve is the Silent Pool, the result of a hole dug during the construction of the proposed dam. The reserve can be entered at two points: Veld Veld ( / v ɛ l t / or / f ɛ l t / ), also spelled veldt , is a type of wide open rural landscape in Southern Africa . Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub , especially in the countries of South Africa , Lesotho , Eswatini , Zimbabwe and Botswana . A certain sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa has been officially defined as
899-643: The summer months in the form of high-energy thunderstorms . Over most of the South African Highveld, the average annual rainfall is between 500–900 millimetres (20–35 in) a year, decreasing to about 250 millimetres (9.8 in) near the western border and increasing to nearly 1,000 millimetres (39 in) in some parts of the Lesotho Highlands ; the South African Lowveld generally receives more precipitation than
930-462: The total amount possible. Much of the interior of Southern Africa consists of a high plateau, the higher portions 1,500–2,100 m (4,900–6,900 ft) of which are known as the Highveld , starting at the Drakensberg escarpment, 220 km (140 miles) to the east of Johannesburg and sloping gradually downwards to the west and southwest, as well as to the north, through the Bushveld towards
961-432: The world's deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregions or in fast-draining sandy soils in more humid regions. These scrublands are characterized by plants with adaptations to the dry climate, which include small leaves to limit water loss, thorns to protect them from grazing animals, succulent leaves or stems, storage organs to store water, and long taproots to reach groundwater. Mediterranean scrublands occur naturally in