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Decoding alphabet soup reveals a historical achievement in global conservation

Dr Gabi Teren, EWT National Biodiversity and Business Network, Programme Manager

On December 19, The UN CBD COP-15 adopted the Post-2020 GBF with the key 30×30 target for NBSAPs.

Scientists love talking in acronyms or alphabet soup. Let me unpack this for you by describing a recent momentous conservation achievement. The UN CBD – The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), ratified by 196 nations in 1992, encourages actions that will lead to a sustainable future, including:

“the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources”

COP15 Business and Biodiversity Forum plenary session

Every few years, the 196 countries party to the convention (including South Africa, but notably not the USA) meet at a Conference of the Parties (COP). The COP27, the 27^th meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) parties, was held in November in Sharm el-Shaikh. COP15 was subsequently held in Montreal, Canada. You may be thinking someone really can’t do arithmetic, but there are different conventions that focus on different aspects of environmental action. The former COP (27) was the annual UN Climate Change Conference that advances global climate talks, mobilises action, and provides opportunities to look at the impacts of climate change and potential innovation and solutions in Africa.

COP15, on the other hand, united parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to review and sign into the Post-2020 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). This was essentially equivalent to the famed Paris Agreement signed by the UNFCCC, which is THE international agreement to try and keep the rise in mean global temperature below 1.5 °C to help countries adapt to the disastrous effects of climate change.

The GBF is trying to help the world adapt to the disastrous effects of extinction and biodiversity loss.

“ An average of around 25 per cent of species in assessed animal and plant groups are threatened, suggesting that around 1 million species already face extinction, many within decades unless action is taken to reduce the intensity of drivers of biodiversity loss. Without such action, there will be a further acceleration in the global rate of species extinction, which is already at least tens to hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years.

The biosphere, upon which humanity as a whole depends, is being altered to an unparalleled degree across all spatial scales. Biodiversity – the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems – is declining faster than at any time in human history.

Nature can be conserved, restored and used sustainably while other global societal goals are simultaneously met through urgent and concerted efforts fostering transformative change.” GBF page 4.

The framework sets out four global goals and 23 targets. Target 3 is particularly important. Known as the 30×30 target, it sets out to ensure that by 2030, 30% of all land and water on Earth are effectively conserved and managed. To put that in perspective, despite being the third most biodiverse country on the planet, only 9.2% of South Africa’s mainland is formally protected[1] (although that doesn’t include other effective conservation areas). It is also an important target as it is quantified with a timeline. The quantification of some of the global goals got watered down in the final version to words like ‘significant’, which are vague and don’t promote action.

So how do countries now meet these targets? Or show progress towards meeting them? National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAP) are the principal instruments of implementing the CBD at a national level and provide for integrating conservation and sustainable use into national decision-making policy. Of the 196 parties to the convention, 185 have developed NBSAPs. You can access all of them, including South Africa’s, at https://www.cbd.int/nbsap/. So now South Africa and all the other parties must immediately begin to revise their existing NBSAPs to implement the GBF and show progress at COP16, to be held in the latter half of 2024. While this doesn’t give us much time, the EWT is working hard to contribute to the process so that we can measurably address biodiversity loss on the ground.

Dr Gabi Teren, the EWT’s National Biodiversity and Business Network Manager

EWT programmes like the National Biodiversity and Business Network are already working to accelerate meaningful dialogues around the business-centred targets, which aim to address the private sector’s role in destroying nature and to equip people to make responsible and sustainable choices. We had a large presence in Montreal, where I, as the Manager of the NBBN, was the MC of the B&B… sorry, the Master of Ceremonies of the official UN Business and Biodiversity Forum. It was an incredible privilege to give the opening speech to hundreds of business leaders, policymakers, and conservationists and introduce renowned global thinkers like the economist Jeffrey Sacchs and Hank Paulson, the ex-US Secretary of the Treasury, and high-profile CEOs and ministers. I spoke about Ubuntu and how the world needs to come together more than ever in the spirit of ‘I am because we are’. Covid taught us that in a crisis, we can mobilise entire nations overnight and disrupt entire value chains within days to go from making gin to hand sanitiser, and in the face of our planetary crisis, the biggest disaster humanity faces, we need to do more. You can view my impassioned speech and those of all the keynote speakers here (really worth a listen!).

The EWT also partnered with DFFE (Department of Forestry Fisheries and Environment) at an official side event, which we were lucky to get as hundreds of applications could not be accommodated. Supported by UNDP (UN Development Programme), BirdLife International, and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). At this event, we spoke about the importance of collaborations between private-public-NGO bodies and how South Africa has some incredible success stories from such collaborations, such as the National EIA Screening Tool developed by SANBI, the EWT, – the world’s first biodiversity accounting framework for businesses to measure and disclose their footprints, which was proudly developed by the EWT with funding from Eskom. The audience’s reactions showed how these collaboration demonstrations could inspire action.

In a Post-2020 world, we need to work together to live more harmoniously with nature. Watch this space as we build that action to conserve our world with your help. In follow-up articles, I will unpack some key targets and how we plan to achieve them. Follow our socials here for more.

[1] http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/D04012/D040122020.pdf

A tribute to a beloved pack member – Dr Peter Mundyn

A tribute to a beloved pack member – Dr Peter Mundy

Pioneering African Vulture Conservationist: 1941-2023

Dr John Ledger

Peter Mundy cradles a baby Palm-nut Vulture hatched at Vulpro. 24 September 2021. Photo: John Ledger.

While numerous tributes to Peter have poured in following his death on 3 February, it is regrettable that he did not get to write his own story, which would have been a fascinating autobiography. This is but a brief tribute to his full and exceptional life.

Born in London, Peter showed early signs of leadership and self-motivation. In 1957 he became a Queen’s Scout and attended the World Jamboree. In 1960 he was a member of the British Schools Exploring Society expedition to Iceland, and in that year, he finished his schooling at the Royal Liberty School in Essex, winning a State Scholarship to Worcester College at Oxford University, where he ostensibly studied Zoology for a year.

But, in his own words, “he was not yet ready for such training”, and instead of zoology textbooks, he read Dostoevsky, learnt to play the saxophone, and had a fully wild time. Oxford divested itself of his continued presence. Thereafter followed time at the University of Life, where Peter undertook diverse types of work (including grave-digging) until he became a blues musician in the outfit called ‘Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages’. The band toured in Europe, and Peter’s stories of those days were hilarious and unforgettable. But after a few years, he tired of the frenetic but jaded life of an itinerant musician and managed to get back into university, this time at King’s College, London, whence he emerged with a BSc (Hons) in Zoology in 1969. He started birding with his university friend Clive Slater (“when we were on a rather boring entomology field course”).

Then followed nearly three years in northern Nigeria, where he was a secondary school teacher (biology and mathematics) at the Government College in Sokoto. Here he became interested in vultures and, with another friend (Allan Cook), studied the Hooded Vultures that were abundant in the heart of the city and had developed a symbiotic relationship with the humans of Sokoto. After that, he became a junior research fellow at the University of Rhodesia in 1972 to pursue a doctoral study on the ‘Comparative Biology of Southern African Vultures’.

He researched vultures in the north-east of Rhodesia in the Chirisa and Chizarira Game Reserves and the south-east in the Gonarezhou Game Reserve. With his young assistant Gabriel Ruguma, he worked for three years in wild areas full of large and dangerous animals, armed with only a Swiss army knife. His tales about their escapades in the bush were entertaining, to say the least! To fulfil the broad scope of his research, Peter had to include the Cape Vulture (or Cape Griffon as he liked to call it) in his studies, and that brought him to South Africa, the stronghold of the species, where we met in 1972 and became close friends for fifty years. I had been involved with ringing Cape Vultures with the Witwatersrand Bird Club when I was a student at Wits and a member of the university Mountain Club.

The following year Peter joined our annual expedition to ring Cape Griffon nestlings at Roberts Farm in the Magaliesberg, and with his sharp wit, combative world views, and vigorous usage of strong expletives, had a powerful impact on the young students of the Wits Mountain Club who had never encountered such an unusual character! Over the next few years, ringing efforts were extended to several Cape Griffon breeding colonies at Manoutsa, Colleywobbles (then Transkei), Zastron (Free State), and Botswana.

Peter also had a galvanising effect on several local vulture enthusiasts. Many people were attracted to work for vultures with the enthusiasm that he generated about the hidden charms and unique features of the big birds. The core of the Vulture Study Group (VST) comprised Mundy, Ledger, Russel Friedman (fundraising), Steven Piper (academic/statistician), Duncan Butchart (artist) and Marilyn Blignaut (secretary). We funded the work of the VSG mainly by selling T-shirts at shopping centres, organised by our entrepreneurial ‘cousin’ Russel, and attracting the inquisitive crowds with a real live vulture called ‘Bonaparte (because of his crippled wing).

In 1976 we started reading about Clive Walker and the Endangered Wildlife Trust in various newspapers, and Mundy said he sounded like ‘the sort of bloke who might give us some money’. Clive was taken on a heart-stopping climb up the face of the Magaliesberg to see the vultures. He persuaded the Board that these young lunatics deserved support, and I was subsequently appointed as an EWT Trustee in 1976 with a brief to make sure the Vulture Study Group was run with business-like discipline, and it became the first ‘Working Group’ of the EWT.

At the South African Ornithological Society (SAOS) Symposium on African Predatory Birds. Peter Mundy, John Ledger, Dr Leslie Brown, Dr Ian Newton, Russel Friedman, Dr Alan Kemp; seated: Steven Piper and ‘Timofy Vulcha’. Photographed on the steps of the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria by John Cooper, August 1977.

At a South African Ornithological Society (SAOS) symposium on ‘African Predatory Birds’ at the Transvaal Museum in August 1977, we interacted with an audience that included leading specialists like Dr Leslie Brown from Kenya and Dr Ian Newton from Oxford University. Two years later, in 1979, Peter, Russel, and I attended and made presentations at the first International Conference on the Vultures, held in Santa Barbara, California. Our participation put the Vulture Study Group on the international map and resulted in us working with the California Condor Rescue Programme in 1981 and attending a Bird of Prey conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1982.

Peter graduated with a D Phil from the University of Zimbabwe in 1981 and was employed by the EWT as its first Scientific Officer. He later joined the Department of National Parks and Wildlife in Zimbabwe as their Ornithologist and also represented his country at various international meetings such as CITES. Peter and I attended several vulture conferences around the world and met regularly on his visits to South Africa.

He was subsequently appointed Professor of Forestry and Wildlife at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, where he played a major role in training young Zimbabweans, many of whom went on to remarkable achievements at the tertiary level and employment in the fields of biology and conservation. He was an excellent and prolific writer and published numerous popular and scientific articles. The ultimate milestone was the publication of The Vultures of Africa in 1992, authored by Peter Mundy, Duncan Butchart, John Ledger and Steven Piper. The citation index for this large 464-page book is remarkable and continues growing to this day.

When Peter was diagnosed with cancer, he came to Johannesburg several times for treatment, where we saw one another and also made two rather nostalgic visits to the Magaliesberg in 2021, one to the Nyoka Ridge vulture restaurant on International Vulture Awareness Day on 4 September, and another to Vulpro on Heritage Day, 24 September. What struck me about these gatherings was how Peter Mundy’s legacy has inspired future generations of people to appreciate and treasure these great birds and go to great efforts to conserve and care for them. This is a notable achievement that will long be associated with this remarkable man and will hopefully be a solace to his wife Verity and children Matthew and Emily as they come to terms with their loss. I certainly miss him deeply.

Peter’s D. Phil thesis, published by the Vulture Study Group.
The Vultures of Africa. Published by Acorn Books, Johannesburg with an overseas edition published by Academic Press.
Peter and John at Nyoka Ridge, International Vulture Awareness Day, 4 September 2021. Photo: John Wesson

Saving species through habitat conservation: Sungazers

Saving species through habitat conservation: Sungazer Lizards

Bradley Gibbons, Senior Field Officer, ICF/EWT African Crane Conservation Programme

South Africa’s Free State Province is thought to be home to 95% of the population of Sungazer Lizards (Smaug giganteus), with the remaining population found in Mpumalanga. Sungazers are endemic to South Africa, meaning they occur nowhere else in the world. They were named “Sungazers” because of their habit of standing in the sun in a unique posture with their front legs upright, underside not touching the ground, and faces angled toward the sky. They are given the name “Ouvolk” in Afrikaans, which means “old folk” in English. The theory is that they were given this name due to their dinosaur-like appearance.

Sungazer Lizard outside burrow

Sungazers are threatened because their virgin grassland habitat is being rapidly transformed for agricultural expansion, mining activities, overgrazing, and the collection of individuals for the pet trade or local traditional use. They are found in a specific type of grassland, making them habitat specialists, and they do not translocate easily, with many individuals not surviving the process. Therefore, protecting the habitat that Sungazers depend on is paramount.

Currently, very few sites are protected to conserve Sungazers because approximately 99% of these lizards occur on privately-owned farms and properties. Sungazers are not rock-dependent and construct burrows underground – roughly 45 cm below the ground surface, extending up to 2 metres. The association with the short grass makes it easier for Sungazers to be on the lookout for predators. When danger approaches, their only defence is to run into their burrows. For this reason, they spend a lot of time in their burrows, but if you’re lucky, you can catch these fascinating dragon-like lizards when they emerge to find food and show their reverence for the sun!

The Endangered Wildlife Trust is working to protect the habitat of the Sungazer Lizard and other threatened species through Biodiversity Stewardship and by reducing threats such as illegal wildlife trade. Visit www.ewt.org.za to find out more about Sungazers and what you can do to help.

Case study: The Eeram Protected Environment

The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is currently busy with a project to proclaim the Eeram Protected Environment, and a gazette notice was published at the end of October 2022. This area is located between Warden and Harrismith in the Free State and is 7,398 hectares in size. It will be the first area proclaimed to conserve the Endangered Botha’s Lark. Not only will this offer protection for this bird, but also for Sungazers and Blue Cranes.

Botha’s Lark. Photo credit: David Weaver

A protected environment is a form of habitat conservation on privately-owned properties and is an agreement made by a landowner to conserve the biodiversity in the area. The area is proclaimed through the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act – No 31 of 2004 (NEMPAA), allowing the farmer to continue farming in a manner that does not compromise the biodiversity and ecology in the declared area.

Grasslands are one of South Africa’s most endangered biomes, with only 2.5% formally conserved and 60% permanently damaged. These grasslands are critical for the long-term provision of ecosystem services, and all grasslands play this role, even a small farm close to a city. The grassland biome is also in a water production zone and critical to water supply to cities in Gauteng and the Free State. This protected environment will be valuable for conserving threatened species in this important area, including the Sungazer Lizard.

This work is made possible by Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the Ford Wildlife Foundation, the HCI Foundation, Heather Henson, International Crane Foundation Conservation Impact Fund, the African Wildlife Initiative Rapid Action Grant co-funded by IUCN Save our Species (SOS) and the European Union, National Lotteries Commission, Millstream Farm, N3 Toll Concession, Paul L King, Rand Merchant Bank, and the Whitley Fund for Nature.

Vulture-safe Zones benefit biodiversity and people

Vulture-Safe Zones benefit biodiversity and people

Danielle du Toit, EWT Birds of Prey Programme

Southern African vulture populations are declining rapidly due to threats such as collisions with and electrocutions by electrical infrastructure, drowning in farm reservoirs, and of course, poisoning in all its many forms. Vulture Safe Zones have been established to address these issues and conserve vultures. Vulture Safe Zones are appropriately-sized geographic areas in which threats to the vulture species present are identified and mitigated through targeted conservation methods. They are established through active engagement with landowners and assistance through Vulture Safe Zone Alliance parties to create safe spaces for vultures to forage, roost and ultimately breed.^1,2

Unintentional poisoning occurs when vultures ingest toxic contaminants, including veterinary pharmaceuticals still present in a carcass after treatment^3,4, lead fragments in carcasses or entrails from lead ammunition^5–8, and agrochemicals used illegally to kill so-called problem animals such as Black-backed Jackal or Caracal. Vultures are sometimes killed intentionally in a direct link to poaching. Sentinel poisoning is the action of vultures being killed due to their behaviour when feeding, which indicates the presence of a carcass of an animal which has been poached. Poachers sometimes poison these carcasses to provide themselves with more time to escape, as vultures die after feeding and do not provide signs to anti-poaching officials that there has been an incident. In traditional medicine, vultures are often killed for their body parts – namely the heads. Some cultures believe that by eating vulture heads and brains, one could be gifted with foresight⁹.

Herding Academy training day
The EWT's Danielle du Toit with Willem Wagener handing-over their Karoo Vulture Safe Zone signboard

Through the establishment of vulture safe zones, landowners and conservation organisations alike must address and ultimately remove all threats to vultures within the area, and although we identify these threats as they relate to vultures, they can negatively impact the health of the ecosystem and humans alike. For example, by using lead-free ammunition, meat harvested through hunting will not contain lead – a heavy metal proven to have serious health implications on those exposed to it, even in small amounts – and is thus healthier for humans to eat. Reservoirs fitted with safeguards to prevent drowning do not have to be drained every time an animal (such as a baboon or bird) drowns in it and contaminates the water supply, thus saving valuable water resources. By mitigating powerlines and energy infrastructure against collisions and electrocutions, we can save hundreds of other birds of dozens of species, not only vultures, and prevent or reduce power outages on these lines. When mitigating the threat of poisoning to vultures, we aim to assist landowners in using responsible non-lethal methods of predation management – which often goes hand in hand with a more hands-on approach to stock and land management. We aim to take a holistic approach – employing a decision-making framework rather than a single tool – to address livestock predation on properties.

Cattle herders are also crucial for the management of the predation of livestock. They are proven to not only be eliminate livestock losses to predators but, if following a grazing management plan, can also assist in regenerating otherwise unproductive soil and increasing ground cover. Simply put, increasing ground cover on otherwise barren landscapes reduces the impact of rainfall and allows the water to seep into the soil rather than run off and cause erosion. By implementing herding on properties, we can upskill and create employment opportunities for members of communities, as demonstrated by The SACT Herding Academy. By combatting desertification, landowners will be able to better withstand the effects of drought and build resilience to the impacts of climate change.^10,11

Attendees at a lead ammunition-awareness day called Battle of the Bullets learning about the impacts of lead bullets on wildlife and people
Vulture-safe reservoir to prevent drownings and water contamination

The general market for agricultural products seeks sustainably and responsibly produced, traceable products¹². By becoming Vulture Safe, a landowner can honestly present their practices and market to consumers while benefitting nature and the people around them. We encourage landowners and partners to use the Vulture Safe Zone logo for promoting their properties and products to generate interest and support for the cause and the landowners who are part of it. Vulture Safe Zones may focus on vultures, but they benefit all.

This work is made possible by the Charl van der Merwe Trust, IUCN Save Our Species Rapid Action Grant, Ford Wildlife Foundation, Alu-Cab, the Rupert Nature Foundation, and the Disney Conservation Fund

References:

Mukherjee, A. & Galligan, T. H. Vulture Safe Zones to save Gyps vultures in South Asia Enhancing community-based vulture conservation in western lowlands of Nepal View project Vulture Safe Zone View project The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312315404 (2014).
BirdLife International Vulture Safe Zone Fact Sheet.
Plaza, P. I., Martínez-López, E. & Lambertucci, S. A. The perfect threat: Pesticides and vultures. Science of the Total Environment vol. 687 1207–1218 Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.160 (2019).
van Wyk, E., van der Bank, F. H., Verdoorn~, G. H. & Beans, H. CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON INSECTICIDE RESIDUES IN THE CAPE GRIFFON VULTURE (GYPS COPROTHERES). Camp. Btochem. Physiot vol. 104 (1993).
Pain, D. J., Mateo, R. & Green, R. E. Effects of lead from ammunition on birds and other wildlife: A review and update. Ambio 48, 935–953 (2019).
Gangoso, L. et al. Long-term effects of lead poisoning on bone mineralisation in vultures exposed to ammunition sources. Environmental Pollution 157, 569–574 (2009).
Fisher, I. J., Pain, D. J. & Thomas, V. G. A review of lead poisoning from ammunition sources in terrestrial birds. Biol Conserv 131, 421–432 (2006).
Garbett, R. et al. Association between hunting and elevated blood lead levels in the critically endangered African white-backed vulture Gyps africanus. Science of the Total Environment 630, 1654–1665 (2018).
Ogada, D. L., Keesing, F. & Virani, M. Z. Dropping dead: Causes and consequences of vulture population declines worldwide. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1249, 57–71 (2012).
LaCanne, C. E. & Lundgren, J. G. Regenerative agriculture: Merging farming and natural resource conservation profitably. PeerJ 2018, (2018).
Gosnell, H., Gill, N. & Voyer, M. Transformational adaptation on the farm: Processes of change and persistence in transitions to ‘climate-smart’ regenerative agriculture. Global Environmental Change 59, (2019).
Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) – Textile Exchange.

We have dogs in the fight against poaching

WE HAVE DOGS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST POACHING

DR ANDREW TAYLOR, EWT WILDLIFE IN TRADE PROGRAMME MANAGER

dog and handler

EWT Conservation K9 Bekah and handler Precious

The Endangered Wildlife Trust supports anti-poaching initiatives in game reserves using tracking and detection dogs known as conservation K9s. A project generously funded by the IUCN Save Our Species Rapid Action Grant and the European Union has enabled us to deploy six new dogs over the past year into priority reserves in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. Although the grant period has ended, the EWT continues to support the reserves to ensure continuity and sustainability of the use of dogs to support their rangers, and our Conservation K9 Project Coordinator, Shadi Henrico, recently visited four of the dogs posted in Limpopo.

Ruger, a male Dutch Shepherd, and Bekah, a female Belgian Malinois sponsored by Global Conservation Force, were deployed to a big five reserve in June 2022. As tracking dogs, Ruger and Bekah walk daily patrols along the fence line with their handler Precious, sniffing out evidence of illegal infiltrations into the reserve that may be related to poaching activity. If someone has entered the reserve through the fence, these dogs will detect their scent and can follow the route they took, allowing Precious to find the trespasser and uncover the intentions behind their incursion.

dog and handler

EWT Conservation K9 Gold and handler Clifford

Gold, a certified detection dog, was deployed to another big five reserve in August 2022, where he is finding his feet and bonding with his newly qualified handler Clifford. Clifford was trained at Genesis K9 with support from the IUCN SOS and the EU, and works with Gold to screen vehicles at entrance gates and other locations to ensure that no contraband is smuggled into or out of the reserve. Gold’s sharp nose can detect firearms, ammunition, rhino horn, elephant ivory, pangolin scales, and lion bones and will immediately alert Clifford if he catches a suspicious whiff so that they can investigate further.

EWT Conservation K9 Juice and handler Kaizer searching vehicles

Juice, a large male Malinois, has been deployed to a reserve in the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) adjacent to Kruger National Park, where he is screening vehicles entering and leaving the reserve. He has been partnered with Kaizer, an experienced dog handler and will be working hard to catch wildlife traffickers. Like Gold, Juice will focus on detecting firearms, ammunition, and threatened wildlife species.

This project is supported by the IUCN Save Our Species Rapid Action Grant, co-funded by the European Union, Global Conservation Force, and Genesis K9.

Secrets of the Soutpansberg

Cyrintha Joubert, the EWT’s Soutpansberg Protected Area, Water Conservation Project Coordinator

There are 18 recognised centres of endemism in southern Africa – localised areas with high species diversity found nowhere else. The Soutpansberg Mountain Range is one of these and has the highest plant diversity of all these centres. Many of the Soutpansberg endemic species are rare and threatened. Around 3,000 vascular plant species occur in the 6,800 km² Soutpansberg Mountains. Six biomes are found in the mountains: forest, thicket, savannah, grassland, fynbos, and wetland.

Not only are the species living in the mountains of high conservation value, but they also hold cultural value and have medicinal properties that are sought-after for traditional healing practices and mainstream pharmaceuticals. The EWT strives to conserve these plants in collaboration with partners in the Soutpansberg, ensuring that those who depend on them for any purpose can legally access the species they need sustainably. Here are a few secrets of the Soutpansberg that you may come across should you be lucky enough to visit the area or hike the recently established Old Salt Trail.

Monkey Orange

Strychnos spinosa

The genus name, Strychnos, is taken from the Greek word for deadly, which refers to poisonous alkaloids contained in the seed integuments. “Spinosa” refers to the spines. The poison strychnine is derived from an Asian species of Strychnos. The seeds should be avoided as they are poisonous or could have purgative effects. The fruit only appears after good rains and has a smooth, hard, yellow look when ripe. Inside the outer ‘shell’ is tightly packed seeds surrounded by a fleshy, edible covering. Most of this plant is used medicinally, with the roots and leaves used to treat certain snake bites. After the seeds have been removed, the dried fruits are used as musical instruments.

Sour Plum or Monkey Plum

Ximenia caffra

A sour worm with no added sugar! This is an extremely versatile plant, and all parts are used. While the fruit can be eaten fresh, it tastes slightly sour and is often made into jams, desserts, or jellies. As the wood is hard, it is used for making pot handles, firewood, and even for construction purposes. The oil extraction from the seeds has various uses, from cosmetics to the softening of leather. The fruit is high in potassium, and the leaves and roots are used to treat coughs, body pains, and even malaria.

Stem fruit

Englerophytum magalismontanum

This small to medium-sized evergreen tree has delicious fruits which are extremely high in Vitamin C with a content of 40 mg per 100 g. The fruit is fleshy and contains sticky, milky latex when picked and the skin removed. The tree fruits from December to February. When ripe, the fruit is bright red and can be eaten fresh or used to make jam, wine, and even vinegar. These plants’ roots are also used medicinally to treat rheumatism and abdominal pain. They have beautiful silky golden hairs on the back of the leaves, and the tree has a silvery look from afar.

Transvaal Red Milkwood

Mimusops zeyheri

The botanical name is derived from the Greek mimo, meaning ape, and ops, meaning resembling an ape. This might reference the flowers’ colour or the corolla’s shape. This tree is fairly popular amongst humans, birds, and various primates as it has tasty ripe yellow fruit with a high Vitamin C content.

Some more mobile endemic species to find in the Soutpansberg Mountains

Pienaar's Flat Gecko

Afroedura pienaari

A widespread and abundant gecko that shelters in rock cracks and under loose barks in trees. At night, it forages on rocks, trees, vegetation, and the ground.

Cryptic Dwarf Gecko

Lygodactylus incognitus

This shy gecko lives on trees and rocks and is restricted to the higher altitudes in the mist belt.

Soutpansberg Dwarf Gecko

Lygodactylus soutpansbergensis

A shy gecko that lives in the rocky areas throughout the Soutpansberg

Soutpansberg Worm Lizard

Chirindia langi occidentalis

This lizard is rarely encountered as it spends its life underground. It is locally common in certain areas and absent in others.

Soutpansberg Purple-glossed Snake

Amblyodipsas microphthalma ssp. nigra

A near-endemic to the Soutpansberg. These snakes spend most of their time underground and occasionally come to the surface to feed and disperse. They can be found in virtually any habitat, from the hot bushveld areas to the montane grassland on top of the Soutpansberg and throughout the mountain range. Limpopo’s only near-endemic snake!

Soutpansberg Hadogenes Scorpion

Hadogenes soutpansbergensis

The only described endemic scorpion in the Soutpansberg. These large flattened scorpions prefer to live in rock cracks and are widespread and abundant in the Western Soutpansberg.

Soutpansberg Flat Lizard

Platysaurus relictus

Endemic to the western Soutpansberg, these colourful lizards live on rocks in warm and hot areas. They live in small colonies and feed on insects, fruits, and plants.