South Africa: Karoo Succulents Flourish in the Newly Declared Knersvlakte Nature Reserve

Just three hours north of Cape Town lies a little-known biodiversity hotspot, where tiny succulents battle the elements amid hectares of white quartzite gravel. Bababoudjies (Argyroderma), krapogies (Oophytum oviforme) and tuim-en-vinger (Mesembryanthemum digitata) hunker down under the gravel pebbles, their thick leaves belying their delicate natures as endemic plants that scrape a precarious existence from the harsh arid surrounds of the Knersvlakte.

Now these scrappy succulents have an ally in the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act as it protects the 85 500 hectare area a nature reserve.

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