Accommodation near East London Coastal Nature Reserve - 5

South Africa is a country renowned for its nature reserves, but for many, the idea of a nature reserve applies strictly to inland bush veld-type spaces. This is clearly not the case though as South Africa has numerous protected areas which are not anything like the bush veld reserves. The East London Coastal Nature Reserve attests to this fact and reminds us that we need not be discerning when it comes to the protection of our country’s natural spaces.

The East London Coastal Nature Reserve is a long narrow area along the shore of the Indian Ocean. It is located in the province of the Eastern Cape and is managed by the local government organisation known as Eastern Cape Parks, which has responsibility for all of the province’s public protected areas.

The park, which covers 250 kilometres of coastline, and 3424 hectares of land in total, is in fact a collection of smaller reserves. In total there are 10 small coastal reserves which make up the larger park, as well as 2 inland state forests. Some of these smaller reserves include Double Mouth, Nahoon Point, Chalumna and Umtiza Forest.

Between the Great Kei River in the north east, and the Tyalomnqa River in the south west, the East London Coastal Nature Reserve offers a variety of vegetation and animals which call it home.  Along the coast you’ll find coastal grassland, transitional coastal forest, eastern thorn bushveld, eastern dune thicket and valley thicket, while the Nahoon Point Nature Reserve for example protects a fragile dune field.

While not the focal point of the reserve, there are plenty of birds like the Knysna loerie, the Cape parrot as well as sea birds which call the area home, while small animals like rock hyraxes, snakes and buck can also be spotted.

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