Latest news
CapeNature goes cashless at select nature reserves
In line with its commitment to service excellence, sustainability, and safety, CapeNature is excited to announce the transition to a fully cashless payment system at five of its flagship nature reserves from 2 February 2026.
Cubs Club Connect Event
The Cubs Club is turning up the fun at Assegaaibosch Nature Reserve this summer with our Second Cubs Club Connect – a day made just for our wild-at-heart Cubs and their awesome families! 🎉
Holiday Programmes
This school break, trade screens for streams and boredom for bird calls! 🦉🌿
We are heading into the wild with an epic, fun-filled FREE holiday programme for overnight guests at two of CapeNature’s most awesome reserves: Tweede Tol and Grootvadersbosch!
Penguin Palooza
Get ready for the coolest event of the year — Penguin Palooza is sliding your way!
Join us for a flippin’ fantastic time filled with penguin-themed fun, games, and a chance to do something truly amazing: release a penguin into the wild!
Individual Action Projects
Here are some wonderful ways you can make a difference and help protect our amazing mountains! Simply send us a picture of your action and we will assign your points to you! Each action earns you 150 pints.
Group Action Projects
Get ready to go from couch to crag, Cubs — one of this month’s action projects is all about visiting a real-life mountainous area right here in the Western Cape! Whether you trek through the Cederberg, wander the wild trails of Jonkershoek, or play explorer in the Hottentots-Holland, you’ll discover rocky paths, curious critters, and epic views that will make your socks do a happy dance.
Conservation in action
Albino Honey Badger Spotted at De Hoop
CapeNature granted BirdLife South Africa and Panthera a research permit to undertake a camera trap survey at De Hoop Nature Reserve. Among the images captured was an extremely rare albino honey badger (Mellivora capensis), which is the first record of this condition for this species in scientific literature
Celebrating gender equality in conservation
There is a number of women working at CapeNature in so-called non-conventional roles. The entity is known for creating an enabling environment where women employees can thrive and progress.
Groenvlei Carp Project
The Invasive Fish Species Management Non Profit Company (IFSM) consists of a group of volunteers that approached CapeNature in 2018 to remove invasive carp from Groenvlei lake by means of fishing bows.
Monitoring the Great White Shark
The waters around Dyer Island are an important seasonal feeding ground for great white sharks. Researchers working through Dyer Island Conservation Trust have demonstrated a decrease in white shark sightings around the island since 2017.
Possibly extinct Brenton blue butterfly
Of the two localities at which it is known to have occurred, the Brenton blue butterfly is now extinct at one (Nature’s Valley) and possibly extinct at the other (the Brenton Blue Butterfly Reserve near Knysna).
Conservation of Barrydale redfin
The tiny Critically Endangered Barrydale redfin, for example, is limited to just 40 km2 in the Tradouw catchment where it is threatened by water abstraction, pollution and alien fish.
Events Calendar
MPA Day 2025
MPA Day 2025
International Zebra Day
International Zebra Day
CapeNature Conservation Review 2024
CapeNature Conservation Review 2024Featured accommodation
Reviews
Featured reserves
Goukamma Nature Reserve
We recommend that you use a vehicle with a high ground clearance when traversing on reserve.
Goukamma Nature and Marine Reserve was proclaimed a marine protected area in 1990 and it is heralded as one of the country’s conservation success stories. The reserve stretches along 16.5km of the coastline between Buffalo Bay and Platbank, and 2 500 hectares inland.
Buffalo Valley’s three self-catering timber lodges are fully equipped and sleep between four to six people.
Buffalo Valley is a large conservation area two kilometres from the warm Indian Ocean.
Marloth Nature Reserve
Marloth Nature Reserve is hidden away in the imposing Swellendam Mountains, between Swellendam, Ashton, Barrydale and Suurbraak. The peaceful reserve, which is 14 123 hectares in size, is managed together with 16 532 hectares of privately owned land, and is a World Heritage Site.