The 2 300 ha reserve – still awaiting
its official proclamation at the time
of writing – is a consolidation of six
sections, two of which were already
municipal nature reserves. The
Rondevlei Nature Reserve was originally
proclaimed in 1952 as a bird sanctuary,
consisting only of the waterbody and
its shoreline, but it has been expanded
over the years to cover a 290 ha area
that includes a small patch of Cape Flats
Sand Fynbos, a critically endangered
vegetation type. There are six bird hides
and two observation towers along the
northern shore, and a variety of birds
are readily seen, but the same cannot
be said for the resident population of
six hippos. After an absence of almost
300 years, hippos were re-introduced to
Rondevlei in 1979 to control an invasive
alien grass species, but are rarely seen
by visitors, given their nocturnal habits.
No false start for South Africa’s newest Ramsar site
The False Bay Nature Reserve in Cape Town has been
designated as South Africa’s 22nd Ramsar site. Sue Matthews
explored what makes this site so special.
Sue Matthews
The Water Wheel May/June 2015 13
Wetlands
They have made the national news on a few occasions over the
last decade, though, when individuals have escaped from the
reserve and taken up temporary residence in either Zeekoevlei
or the Strandfontein pans.