South African National Parks (SANParks) has effectively incorporated key territory into Table Mountain National Park, providing an important natural corridor between Noordhoek and Kommetjie, Cape {town} Etc reports.
This accomplishment, commemorated at a transfer ceremony yesterday, increases biodiversity and strengthens the park’s natural integrity by connecting its Central and Southern areas for future generations.
When the Table Mountain National Park was established in 1998, one of the primary challenges was to establish a functional ecological link between Chapman’s Peak (Noordhoek) and Slangkop (Kommetjie) across the so-called ‘Noordhoek – Fish Hoek gap’ to permanently connect the park’s Central and Southern sections.
The only choice was to incorporate the Noordhoek Kommetjie wetlands into the new park, forming a natural corridor connecting the lowland wetlands to Slangkop Mountain. However, the Noordhoek Wetlands were privately owned.
A process comprising landowners, SANParks, the City of Cape Town, WWF-SA, the Table Mountain Fund, and other stakeholders was launched to create and safeguard the biological corridor via the Noordhoek Wetlands.
Following extensive expert research and stakeholder talks, SANParks bought the main wetland holdings, which totalled 439 hectares, and proclaimed them part of the Table Mountain National Park in 2004 and core portions of the Cape Floral Region World Heritage Site in 2015.
The restoration of the wetlands began in earnest in 2004, with ongoing rounds of alien vegetation clearance and the implementation of new management programmes for recreational users such as hikers, dog walkers, and horse riders who utilise the wetlands and the surrounding four-kilometre Noordhoek Beach.
The inclusion of the remaining piece of the Kommetjie natural corridor, known as the ‘missing link,’ remained outstanding.
SANParks, landowners and stakeholders announced at a ‘handover event’ on October 22 that the initiative to consolidate the park’s wetlands component had been completed, with landowners contributing the final 25.5-hectare portion of required land to SANParks.
The landowners, Kommetjie Estates and Red Cliff Property, have contributed 4.7 and 20.8 hectares of high-value conservation land to SANParks, respectively, completing the biological link and increasing the corridor’s original planned area by 6.7 hectares.
Restoration of the ‘missing link’ corridor part has begun, with the removal of foreign plants and invasive, fire-prone gum trees.
Restoration efforts will continue to allow endangered Hangklip sand fynbos and peninsula sandstone fynbos to return to the area.
A ‘handover celebration’ was organised at Imhoff Farm in Kommetjie to commemorate the successful absorption of these vital biological corridor areas into Table Mountain National Park, which will permanently connect the park’s Central and Southern portions.
incorporation of vital land into the Table Mountain National Park, creating a crucial ecological corridor between Noordhoek and Kommetjie. This achievement, celebrated at a recent handover event on 22 October 2024, enhances biodiversity and strengthens the park’s ecological pic.twitter.com/LO1yvLmB7A
— SANParks TMNP (@TableMountainNP) October 22, 2024
The celebration brought together SANParks, landowners and key stakeholders who played critical roles in this historic achievement, as well as to recognise the collaborative efforts that enabled this enhancement to the national park, which has far-reaching, positive impacts on biodiversity and conservation.
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Picture: Teddy Jansen / Unsplash
