Concervancy & "Geometricus"

THE RENOSTERVELD CONSERVANCY AND THE GEOMETRIC TORTOISE.

All the farms in Agter Groenberg and southern Limiet mountains have joined in an Association, The Renosterveld Conservancy, with the aim of restoring nature, partly captured by invasive alien species. It incorporates great environmental care for both flora and fauna. Being a part of the Floral Kingdom of the Western Cape, with its enormous diversity of indigenous plants, it is a worthy cause. The Conservancy was constituted in early 2000 and has been a great success. Some 20 farms participate. A forceful structured program for eradication of invasive aliens, such as Black Wattle, Port Jackson, Rooikrans and Hakea, has been in place for many years. The programme gets solid support from the Government through Cape Nature and Land Care. At Kruishof, we had a considerable population of aggressive aliens. They have now been almost entirely eliminated. The old fynbos flora has returned and devleoped in abundance.

There is a variety of extremely rare wild animals roaming the perimiters of the Conservancy; Cape Leopard, Porcupine, Aardvark, Cape Otter ...and the Geometric Tortoise ("Geometricus”).

The latter is classified as Critically endangered, bordering on extinction. The Conservancy harbours what may be the only remaining population, which is estimated to be only some 500 today. It is a beautiful small reptile, with its black and yellow colours and a very distinctive geometric pattern on its shell. Great care and effort is today afforded to the preservation of this population of the Geometric tortoise, first recorded by Linneus in the mid 1700s. It is the symbol of the Renosterveld Conservancy... and a striking part of the wine label of the Kruishof Wines.