On A Stelvio Drive

A short but beautiful drive from Cape Town lies one of South Africas more special natural areas. We paid a visit to the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve to put together a guide of some of its highlights (and drove a really impressive Italian SUV to get there).

- Charles Thompson

The Western Cape’s Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve is unique in many ways: it was South Africa’s first Unesco-ratified biosphere (declared in 1998), and though it is the smallest of the country’s nine, boasts the most biodiversity of anywhere on Earth.

Stretching over roughly 100 000 hectares between Kleinmond and Grabouw, the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve is widely considered to be the epicentre of the Cape Floral Kingdom and its famous fynbos, with no less than 1 300 plant species per 10 000 square kilometres. To put this in perspective, the next largest biodiverse area in the world is the Amazon basin in South America, with 400 species per 10 000 square kilometres (and much bigger, nastier spiders).

According to information from the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens which lie within the biosphere, some scientists believe this rich biodiversity is thanks to southern Africa never succumbing to the infamous ice age, which destroyed countless plant and animal species across the globe. These learned white coats say that many of its 8 000-plus species have been around since the dinosaurs, making them ‘living fossils’.

Still not impressed? The Cape Floral Kingdom and its Kogelberg heart hold 5 800 endemic plant species, more per surface area than anywhere else in the world. Britain, by comparison, has 20.

It’s botanist heaven, and a pretty cool place for leisure travellers, too, whether you’re a dedicated hiker, avid birder or just someone who enjoys a beautiful drive and a chance to explore nature at a leisurely pace.

We made our way there to compile a list of highlights.

KOGELBERG NATURE RESERVE