Skilderkrantz

Skilderkrantz is the Dutch-Afrikaans name of a conservation venture in the Kouga. The name refers to majestic rock formations of the area, some of which retain paintings of the San people who lived here long ago. Those residents set an example, knowing much about resource-sustaining, light lifestyles of their times.

Skilderkrantz, painted rock, is a name used for several diverse ventures in different parts of South Africa. Here in the Kouga, the focus is on returning a group of marginal farms to the natural state of before, conserving what there still is and recovering where it may within the realms of the possible. The word “rewild” is used. The actions hold promise for the future of natural assets of the area, while reminding of long odds once losses are incurred, such as species extinctions that are still proliferating in our time amidst climate change.

Links are growing between conservation activities in the region. Concerted human effort does make a difference, sometimes delivering the breakthrough. Large tracts of local land are benefiting from management efforts by skilled people, the intensity varying according to resources and the mandates of ownership and projects. Such links already exist between the Garden Route National Park and the Addo National Elephant Park, as well as some inbetween areas. The main venture between these two is the Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve of which the Skilderkrantz Nature Reserve forms part. All of this augurs well for the future, but as always, talk is cheap and dreams doth butter no parsnips.

Fynbos and renosterveld plant species of this region have not been studied and described to the extent reached in the Western Cape, where more and older universities and botanical gardens have been serving a bigger population for longer.

Many routes less travelled and many lesser-known natural treasures await here, welcoming especially those that care for the land. It is always worth raising the enthusiasm, and encourage more to join the ranks of doing what is deemed worthwhile (https://skilderkrantz.com).