Read our latest posts and news.
GCBR Micro Fund Report: Aloe claviflora population status monitoring project in Wolwekraal Nature Reserve
Background Wolwekraal Conservation and Research Organisation (WCRO) applied to the GCBR Flexible Micro Fund for funding to carry out a repeat survey of drought and porcupine damage to the Kraal Aloe (Aloe claviflora) population in Wolwekraal Nature Reserve. Funding of...
We Need Your Vote for an exciting new project
The GCBR has a new project that stands a very good chance of receiving funding from the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA), but we need your help to secure the funding. The project has been selected as a finalist along with five others, and the winner...
Looking Ahead: 2022 – 2025
Message from the Chair As important participants in the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve’s (GCBR) realm, we are excited to engage you in this newsletter to describe our plans for the next four years. This is on the back of a number of successful projects undertaken...
Living on Faith in a Changing Climate
Leliefontein livestock herding The Leliefontein communal area is one of five communal areas in Namaqualand where livestock herding is still a common practice in a vast unfenced grazing lands. In these communal areas you will find many Nama herders with their dogs,...
TOWERLAND WILDERNESS
A venue beyond the ordinary Sue Davidoff and Allan Kaplan - founders, stewards and guardians of Towerland Wilderness - are opening this unique and beautiful wilderness home as an intimate venue for small gatherings and events. Whilst usually we able...
A Tribute to Mr Greg Moore
We are greatly saddened by the recent untimely passing of Mr Greg Moore, one of our keenest project supporters. Before even hearing about the GCBR and our Corridor Rehabilitation Project, Greg had been waging a ceaseless and thankless war against the black wattle and...
Bergfontein (near Albertinia) hack
This weekend outing is another opportunity to “hand back” to Nature in the beautiful Langeberg Mountains north of Albertinia. We will be clearing invasive alien hakeas immediately east of where we cleared in March 2020. This time we stay and work from the Bergfontein...
Conservation meet report for the Langeberg Hack
In a hack on Saturday 13 March, west of Bergfontein in the Langeberg mountains, we took on an aggressive Australian invader, hakea sericea, which is threatening extensive Mountain Fynbos biodiversity and water resources. The hack had an excellent turnout of 28...
A farmer’s tale
‘Fire’ is a word any landowner in the Southern Cape of South Africa knows and respects! In many cases fire management is a controversial topic amongst the diverse range of landowners and managers in the Gouritz Ecological Corridors Project area. The reality is that...
GCBR Micro Fund Research Grant: Ethno-Botany and Resource Economy of the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve
Locations of the documented studies: Still Bay, Graaff-Reinet and Calvinia. Unlocking the economy of indigenous phytochemicals I understood the value of plants very early on in life. When 5 years old, I would walk the leafy suburban street where I grew up and picked...
Stink bean Biocontrol
- it’s got a place in the Invasive Alien Plant management plan The Stink bean, also known as Australian albizia, Sirus and Stinkboon, is a fine bi-pinnate leaved evergreen shrub or tree growing 4-6 meters high. It somewhat resembles the Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii)....
Sesbania Biocontrol
Healthy ecosystems connected to working landscapes are the foundation for clean air and water, fertile soil, and food production. They provide an immensely valuable role in buffering agriculture from the worst effects of climate variability and climate change, provide...