Mpumalanga is the only province in the country, and one of the few in the world, to celebrate its grasslands. Mpumalanga is to a large extent a grassland and wetland province and our grasslands and wetlands are two of our … Read more
We shouldn’t assume everybody knows what “biodiversity” and “wetlands” actually are, writes Glen Ramke, Endangered Wildlife Trust–Africa Crane Conservation Programme. Recently two minor surprises which were wake-up calls. Both comments came from people I had expected to know these things. … Read more
By Colin Beale, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, University of York Reprinted from The Conversation (28 August 2019) under a Creative Commons licence. Winter burning is seen as a necessity at Verloren Valei. Catastrophic fires in the Amazon rainforest made global … Read more
Some interesting sightings over two days in late December 2019. At the end of December, Susan Abell and Geoff Lockwood co-led an enthusiastic group on a guided visit to explore the diversity of this little-known gem of a reserve. Saturday … Read more
Second monitoring report of Verloren Valei’s carnivores is published. Following on from the initial baseline assessment conducted during 2015 and the first monitoring assessment performed in 2018, Daan Loock and Dr Lourens Swanepoel conducted a second monitoring exercise from the … Read more
DNA technology is changing the way plants—and especially orchids—are named, as the cases of Orthochilus aculeatus subsp. aculeatus and subsp. huttonii demonstrate. By Gerrit van Ede In the botanical world, name changes occur reasonably frequently due to a number of … Read more
One of the founders of Friends of Verloren Valei dies It is with a very sad heart that we announce the passing of Bill Mincher, one of the founding members, and for a long time the treasurer, of Friends of … Read more
John Manning has revised and improved the Field Guide to Wild Flowers of South Africa, which was first published in 2009. It is another ‘blockbuster’ of note from this talented author, with 487 pages of text and over 1,100 excellent … Read more
Megan Loftie Eaton introduces the Virtual Museum. Welcome to the Animal Demography Unit Virtual Museum When people hear the word “museum” they often think of a building filled with dusty display cases and stuffed animals But the Virtual Museum (VM) … Read more
Sixteen carnivore species were detected by camera traps over 43 days in August-October 2018, six more than in the previous assessment. In 2015, Dr Lourens Swanepoel conducted a survey of the predators using Verloren Valei, as reported in The Wetlander … Read more
