African Safari Lodge

THE WILDLIFE

Eastern Cape

The Eastern Cape is one of the best kept secrets in South African Tourism, boasting vast Karoo plains, beautiful mountain vistas and grasslands, mountain forests, sparkling mountain streams, coastal dune forests, river valley bushveld, fynbos and acacia and spekboom thickets. It also has estuaries that can be explored by boat, the Bushman’s River is the second longest tidal river in South Africa, surpassed only by the Breede River of the Western Cape. The Indian Ocean is also to be explored by boat with great fishing and with regular sightings of whales, dolphins, seals and penguins. The Eastern Cape also boasts the biggest coastal sand dune formations within the borders of South Africa and beautiful unspoilt beaches where one can walk, fish and dive and out of season one can be the only person on the beach.

DIVERSE LANDSCAPES

This area has a wealth of beautiful natural areas, with a rich diversity of flora, fauna and landscapes. Some of the areas include proclaimed provincial nature reserves, marine reserves, and coastal islands; while others are referred to as conservancies or conservation or wilderness areas. The Eastern Cape is home to the Addo National Elephant Park, various other National Parks and numerous internationally known Big5 Private Game Reserves, as well as privately owned game farms.

The Eastern Cape is on the watershed of the winter and summer rainfall areas of South Africa which makes it unique from a rainfall perspective. In an average year the area can get either winter or summer rainfall. In a good year it can get both winter and summer rainfall and in a bad year it can get neither. The erratic nature of the rainfall pattern results in the great ecological diversity of the Eastern Cape. It is listed globally as a biodiversity hotspot because of the great variety of plant species and habitat, which give rise to the great diversity of animal species.

The Eastern Cape is also an important meeting ground of six major converging biomes and 25 of the Acocks veld types occur here

The Biomes are as follows:

At least four major vegetation Biome types are represented where African Safari Lodge is situated in the Eastern Cape.

Some Of The Wildlife You Can Witness