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Hi,

I spent the weekend at Golden Gate National Park and I wonder whether someone would be able to answer the following questions.

1- why are cacti (exotic to SA & potentially invasive) planted in the gardens of the Basotho village?
2- when did the QwaQwa section become part of the expanded GGNP? what will happen to the remaining farm buildings (about 4 clusters seen)?
3- is there plans afoot to link the NP to the sterkfontein dam nature reserve?
4- any plans to reintroduce predators?

Thanks

Hi Joel;

I have sent your questions to Golden Gate and hoping they will get back to me shortly.

Answer for question #2:
The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mohammed Valli Moosa, and the MEC of the Free State Province, Mr Sakhiwo Belot, today (Thursday, 18 March 2004) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the Basotho Cultural Village in the Eastern Free State for the incorporation of the QwaQwa National Park to the Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2004/04031813461001.htm

On 21 November 2008 the QwaQwa National Park (95 properties) were included in the park increasing the park to its current size of 32,690ha.

That and more you can find in the (draft) Management plan

Thanks DuQues. But I wonder what is happening now. That info is at least 4 years old.

But answered question #2. That will not change.

To sort of answer #1: Cacti do not really become invasive if kept in a garden. It is not as if they grow fast.

As for the rest I have no idea, but Sterkfontein is quite a ways away, with a village or two in between.

Hi Joel, here are the answers to the questions you had listed.


1) The cacti at BCV is identified along with other plants to the removed/treated by the Biodiversity Social Projects team (Alien Plants team). The problem with prickly pear is the aggressive vegetative nature. If the plant is cut a piece is left in the veld and it will grow. Due to the cold conditions Bio control agents will not work. We will use chemical inject to dry out the plants.

2) There are both proper houses and informal dwelling/mud structures found within the previously known QwaQwa Nature Reserve. Once the land claim process is completed and the residents are moved out of the park to the mutually settlement areas, the house will be renovated for staff use and the informal dwelling after being documented and photographed will in all probability demolished. Please note that they are a significant part of the QwaQwa Nature Reserves history spanning more than 20+ years therefore proper documents and advice will be sort before any work is done on these dwellings.

3) There are plans via the Maloti Drakensberg Trans frontier Programme (MDTP) to through contractual agreements with the local and tribal authorities to one day link up with Royal Natal Nature Reserve. To my knowledge thus I stand to be corrected, there are no immediate plan to link with Sterkfontein due to the complexity of such an arrangement and also from a species representation point of view. It would be more important to look at the conservation of the high altitude grassland communities between Royal Natal and Golden Gate.

4) There are no immediate plans to reintroduce predators to the park.

Many thanks for the detailed responses Lesego.
Have a great week.