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).

04 September marks International Vulture Awareness Day. Vultures have always had a bad rep – think Lion King? Meanwhile, vultures are nature’s essential workers. As scavengers, they are part of a clean-up crew that mop up carcasses and other organic waste, preventing the spread of diseases such as anthrax and botulism!

Kids – got something to say?

In celebration of Arbour Day 2021, CapeNature is giving away an outdoor solar pack to lucky winners with its Interview with a Tree competition. Kids play the part of the interviewee and get your friends, sibling, parent, or teacher to play the part of the tree.

CapeNature has joined a global-urban and community greening movement called ‘Plant One Million Trees’. Typically, these are linked to days on the environmental calendar such as Arbour Day, Plant Appreciation Day, Biodiversity Day, Earth Day and World Environment Day. This initiative seeks to boost these successes and bring them under one banner known as the Plant a Million Trees Campaign.

The Western Cape has just emerged from, in some areas, up to an eight-year drought cycle. This is linked to bigger global oceanic and climatic conditions. The poor rainfall resulted in low freshwater flows in the rivers and very little freshwater reaching the estuaries which are the receiving environment of the freshwater flows left in the rivers after abstraction and use in the catchment.

The critically endangered Caledon conebush, Leucadendron salteri subsp. elimense, occurs in an area of less than 9 km², in four small, severely fragmented subpopulations. It continues to decline due to alien plant invasion, ongoing habitat loss to agriculture, and wildflower harvesting.

A strong network of private and state protected areas has proved to be an important mechanism to conserve biodiversity and improve land management.

CapeNature launched the brand new “LoveNature with Mbali” educational animated series today. Learners from Grade 4 to 7 can follow the live protagonist, Mbali, a 13-year old nature lover and her side-kick, the CapeNature Bot as they explore various conservation related topics. And what is more, the content is fully curriculum aligned.

The Siyaya – Come wild with us series recently walked away with the highest acclaim - Best Documentary - at the Golden Bee International Children’s Film Festival held in New Delhi, India. As a first-time entry for any award, this extraordinary series, bridging the gap between young children and nature, was chosen as the category winner for outstanding children’s documentary. The festival drew 186 entries from 18 countries covering three categories: best documentary; best short film and best feature film.

The South Western Cape hosts a famously rich biodiversity, both terrestrial and marine, which is largely derived from the phenomenal levels of biodiversity change over very small distances (technically, represented by beta, gamma and zeta diversity as one expands spatial scope). This has attracted the attention of NASA, the United States of America’s Space Agency.

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.

We are currently facing challenges in the Western Cape with succulent plant poaching. The succulent plant trade has thus changed into an operation much like that of rhino poaching, where the main role-players sit offshore, and the poaching is done by local people.