Cederberg Wilderness Area

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Dindingwe
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Cederberg Wilderness Area

Post by Dindingwe »

The Cederberg Wilderness Area is about 200km north of Cape Town. It encompasses 710 km² of rugged, mountainous terrain, making it a top spot in the Western Cape for hiking and rock-climbing enthusiasts.

The Cederberg, a World Heritage Site, forms part of the Cape floral region and is covered in mountain fynbos, including the laurel protea, the red disa, rooibos, and the rare and endemic snow protea. Rare Clanwilliam cedars, the area’s namesake, dot the higher mountain cliffs.

The area is also rich in wildlife, much of it rather difficult to spot : porcupines, honey badger, the Cape clawless otter, aardvark, African wild cat, bat-eared fox, aardwolf and Cape fox. Other more common animals include baboons, dassies, grey rhebok, klipspringers, duiker and grysbok.

(Thanks to Capenature https://www.capenature.co.za/reserves/c ... ness-area/ for the introduction).

There are several camps to stay at the Reserve. We stayed at Algeria Camp, where there is a large campsite and 6 modern cottages fully equipped.

General view of the Camp with the cottages in the foreground :

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Each cottage has a large terrace with braai equipment.

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View from our bedroom. I did not take picture of all rooms ; there is a second bedroom, a large kitchen and a living room with a fireplace, very useful in winter.

IMG_2561.jpg


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Dindingwe
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Re: Cederberg Wilderness Area

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We stayed 2 days, the first being suuny and the second with rain in the morning and late afternoon. We made some hikes, with nice landscapes up to a small but nice waterfall.

Fynbos vegetation in mountainous landscape :

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The Waterfall :

IMG_2558.jpg

There are other hikes in more spectacular landscapes (Maltese Cross or Wolfberg Arch) but they are further away from Algeria Camp and need to take the car on about 20 km and then a 6 to 8 hour walk.


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Dindingwe
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Re: Cederberg Wilderness Area

Post by Dindingwe »

We did not see many animals, almost no mammal (some Cape grey mongooses), and not so many birds. Most of them were endemic with a Cape something name.

Cape White-eye (Zosterops virens)

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Cape Bunting (Emberiza capensis)

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Cape Rock-Thrush (Monticola rupestris), taken behind a window that's why it is a bit bluish

1O4A4936.JPG


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Dindingwe
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Re: Cederberg Wilderness Area

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Cape Robin-Chat (Cossypha caffra), not endemic despite the name !

1O4A4888.JPG

Yellow Bishop (Euplectes capensis), non breeding plumage

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Neddicky (Cisticola fulvicapilla) - correct me if I am wrong

1O4A4877.JPG


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Dindingwe
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Re: Cederberg Wilderness Area

Post by Dindingwe »

But the highlight was of course the endemic birds attracted by the nectar of the Protea flowers :

Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa), first in the shade, but then the sun appeared. I like the second picture where the bird stands proudly on the flower, defending it from other males...

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Orange-breasted Sunbird (Anthobaphes violacea)

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Cape Sugarbird (Promerops cafer)

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We saw only one Sugarbird at Cederberg, and I have to admit that this picture was taken a few days before at Cape Point.


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Re: Cederberg Wilderness Area

Post by Flutterby »

Wow, it looks lovely there! \O \O Great views from bed! :yes:

The sunbirds are beautiful! ^Q^ ^Q^


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Re: Cederberg Wilderness Area

Post by Lisbeth »

Looks perfect for a short autumn break. I love the Fynbos vegetation, it is so different from everything else. The closest I can imagine is the moors of the north, but they are far from being as varied as the Fynbos....and have no Proteas ;-)

The birds are spectacular ^Q^ ^Q^ ^Q^

Due to the clothing, it looks as if it was pretty cool ;-)

The waterfall is lovely \O


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Re: Cederberg Wilderness Area

Post by Alf »

It looks lovely ^Q^


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Re: Cederberg Wilderness Area

Post by Mel »

Looks like a bit of paradise - especially with all those beautiful birds too \O


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Re: Cederberg Wilderness Area

Post by Pumbaa »

Stunning shots, Dindingwe O/\ O/\ O/\


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