Kogelberg Nature Reserve

Kogelberg Nature Reserve is a nature reserve of 3000ha comprising the Kogelberg Mountain Range, to the east of Cape Town, South Africa.With about 1600 plant species, it contains a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world.EcologyLocated in the Kogelberg Mountains, along the mountainous coast on the eastern edge of Cape Town, this 3000ha nature reserve protects a significant portion of Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos. Among the enormous range of plants in this local vegetation type are hundreds of species of Erica, a wide range of Protea species and a great many plant families which are endemic. The Kogelberg mountains are known as the heart of the Fynbos, and have a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world.In addition to its unique mountain fynbos, other ecosystems include wetlands, as well as the riparian vegetation of the Palmiet River, which is the most untouched in the south western Cape and are home to forests of indigenous trees such as Wild Almond, Butter-spoon, Rapanea and Yellowwoods. Shady montane forests exist in several spots - like Louwsbos, Platbos and Oudebos - where relic Southern Afrotemperate Forests grow in the ravines and river valleys.