Robben Island is a South African National Heritage Site and World Heritage Site, as it is the prison site where anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela, were jailed for decades. The Robben Island Marine Protected Area (MPA) is one of SANParks’ three new MPAs, declared with 17 other new national MPAs in May 2019. Robben Island…
In April and May of 2023, Judith Botha and Dian Spear went on a roadshow to the four research nodes of Scientific Services: the Arid and Central Node in Kimberley (19-120 April 2023), the Cape Research Centre in Tokai, Cape Town (4-5 May 2023), the Rondevlei Office of the Garden Route and Frontier Research Unit…
The excessive February rains experienced around most of the southern Kruger National Park, brought with it a phenomenal outbreak of moths. On further examination, it appeared that this was primarily dominated by the Lienard’s achaea, which formed large swarms under most trees and bushes in Skukuza. The genus Achaea is a large one and well over…
Insects have over the years been recognised for the important role they play in both natural and agricultural ecosystems in delivering provisioning services, such as pollination of food crops and provision of honey. However, their role in ecosystems also extends beyond pollination services, where they play an important role as pest controllers, waste decomposers and…
South Africa’s iconic African penguin population is in serious trouble. Once abundant in colonies along the west coast and Namibia, penguin numbers have been rapidly dwindling over the past century. Historically, this was due to extensive guano and egg harvesting, however recent declines have been attributed mainly to a shortage of food around their colonies….
SANParks is pleased to announce the availability of MSc grants for student research on addressing climate change impacts in South African National Parks. This should focus on conservation of biodiversity, cultural heritage, and/or the services they provide to people. Research should have significant scientific value and produce results that are directly relevant to management of…
For some of us that work for SANParks, doing our jobs and following the mandate of the Organization can lead to criticism from members of the public on social media and in other forums. Some colleagues have even landed in court because of differing public opinion regarding certain conservation interventions. To protect biodiversity, SANParks has…
Groundwater, the hidden underground cousin of aboveground water occurring in rivers and dams, is out of sight, so usually out of mind too. It is only once the above-ground rivers run dry, such as during drought, that people start exploring below their feet. This was particularly true in the Western Cape during the 2016-2018 drought,…
The South African Scoring System (SASS 5) is a biomonitoring tool that uses freshwater macroinvertebrates to assess the ecological state of rivers. The Krom, Silvermine and Disa Rivers historically had SASS 5 data collected by various researchers since the early 1990s. However, regular monitoring by other agencies ceased in 2016 due to capacity constraints. Scientific…
When you experience a crisis first hand, it sticks with you. On Wednesday the 8th of March, staff from the Cape Research Centre potted up many confiscated plants that were illegally collected from the dry interior of South Africa. Due to limited space and resources, many such uprooted plants have been waiting for a year…
Building rocky cairns or rock stacks on the rocky shore or in wilderness areas may seem harmless, but it can negatively affect the environment, wildlife and sense of place. Rock cairns are small piles of stones or rocks, often stacked on top of each other to create a tower-like structure. They are commonly found outdoors…
After four years of studying, I left Cape Town at the beginning of 2018 with two qualifications, a dream, and high hopes of kickstarting my journey as an Environmentalist. However, with high unemployment rates in South Africa and many graduates looking for work, finding a job after completing an Honours degree in Geography and Environmental…