By Roxanne Reid
If you haven’t yet visited Cape Nature’s Anysberg Nature Reserve between Laingsburg, Ladismith and Montagu in the Karoo, do it now. It’s a special place for endangered plants and riverine rabbits, but you can also kick back and relax in the silence, gaze at the stars or choose from a number of activities like hiking, horse riding and mountain biking.
If you haven’t yet visited Cape Nature’s Anysberg Nature Reserve between Laingsburg, Ladismith and Montagu in the Karoo, do it now. It’s a special place for endangered plants and riverine rabbits, but you can also kick back and relax in the silence, gaze at the stars or choose from a number of activities like hiking, horse riding and mountain biking.
In another post, I got excited about our stay at Anysberg’s cottages and how easy it was adjusting to nature’s rhythm. About our dinky little cottage, with its wood-burning stove and rietdak ceilings. About the on-again-off-again thunderstorms.
Anysberg's chalets are comfy and hard not to love for their simplicity
But the activities are fun too. Horse riding is especially popular and you can go on a guided 25km overnight trail into the mountains at Tapfontein, stopping to see some San rock art along the way. You’ll sleep under the stars or in rustic little wooden chalets.
If horses aren’t your thing, hire a mountain bike – or bring your own – to explore the tracks in the reserve. Or drive the network of gravel roads in your high-clearance 4x4. At Vrede, where the chalets, campsite and offices are, there’s a swimming pool and wooden deck for cooling off on hot days, or you can go paddling and bird-watching on Rooidam not far away.
But perhaps the two best activities are simply to walk the veld or look at the stars. The walk to the Landsekloof waterfall is about 1.5km from the start of the kloof, some 6km from the cottages. Although it’s the only official trail, there are lots of other paths through the veld where you might spot some of the reserve’s gemsbok, red hartebeest, steenbok or Cape mountain zebra.
If horses aren’t your thing, hire a mountain bike – or bring your own – to explore the tracks in the reserve. Or drive the network of gravel roads in your high-clearance 4x4. At Vrede, where the chalets, campsite and offices are, there’s a swimming pool and wooden deck for cooling off on hot days, or you can go paddling and bird-watching on Rooidam not far away.
But perhaps the two best activities are simply to walk the veld or look at the stars. The walk to the Landsekloof waterfall is about 1.5km from the start of the kloof, some 6km from the cottages. Although it’s the only official trail, there are lots of other paths through the veld where you might spot some of the reserve’s gemsbok, red hartebeest, steenbok or Cape mountain zebra.
Go horse riding at Anysberg
Riverine rabbits have recently been discovered on the reserve. ‘We have a Cape Peninsula University of Technology student doing research on their distribution and habitat in the reserve,’ says reserve manager Marius Brand. It’s hoped that this research will be an important step towards helping to conserve this critically endangered animal.
‘We also have two PhD students from France conducting research in and around Anysberg,’ he says. ‘Marine Drouilly is comparing the distribution, diet and behaviour of caracal and black-backed jackal on Anysberg with those on private farms, while Elsa Bussiere’s research is looking at distribution and numbers of brown hyena in the area, and collecting scats to analyse their diet.’
If you’re a plant nut, you’ll be in heaven on your walks here, where there are many rare and endangered species. ‘Anysberg falls into two biomes – Succulent Karoo and Fynbos,’ says Brand. ‘We have rare succulents like the mauve Gibbaeum nebrownii (vis-oë) and bright yellow Tanquana hilmarii (klipvygie). We also have rare fynbos like Leucadendron osbornei, which is endemic to the area.’
‘We also have two PhD students from France conducting research in and around Anysberg,’ he says. ‘Marine Drouilly is comparing the distribution, diet and behaviour of caracal and black-backed jackal on Anysberg with those on private farms, while Elsa Bussiere’s research is looking at distribution and numbers of brown hyena in the area, and collecting scats to analyse their diet.’
If you’re a plant nut, you’ll be in heaven on your walks here, where there are many rare and endangered species. ‘Anysberg falls into two biomes – Succulent Karoo and Fynbos,’ says Brand. ‘We have rare succulents like the mauve Gibbaeum nebrownii (vis-oë) and bright yellow Tanquana hilmarii (klipvygie). We also have rare fynbos like Leucadendron osbornei, which is endemic to the area.’
Follow Pegasus to find a purpose-built platform where you can view the stars through a telescope
The lack of light pollution at the reserve makes it an ideal star gazing spot, especially on nights where there’s no moon or just a sliver. The koppies here are fairly low and there are no huge mountains to obscure any stars hanging low on the horizon. You’re welcome to do your own star gazing; there’s a star book provided in your chalet to help you do just that. You can even marvel at the Milky Way from your verandah.
But if you’re really keen to learn, join a guided star gazing evening at Vrede, using the reserve’s telescopes and tapping into the knowledge of Marius Brand or one of the other three star guides, who were trained by astronomy guides Chris De Coning and Kechil Kirkham from Over The Moon. Depending on the time of year, they might be able to point out Jupiter and its moons, Saturn’s rings or the Andromeda galaxy, 2.5 million light years away.
But if you’re really keen to learn, join a guided star gazing evening at Vrede, using the reserve’s telescopes and tapping into the knowledge of Marius Brand or one of the other three star guides, who were trained by astronomy guides Chris De Coning and Kechil Kirkham from Over The Moon. Depending on the time of year, they might be able to point out Jupiter and its moons, Saturn’s rings or the Andromeda galaxy, 2.5 million light years away.
Need to know
Anysberg Nature Reserve, tel 023-5511922
Reservations, tel 087 087 926
CapeNature's website
More about the Karoo
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
Anysberg Nature Reserve, tel 023-5511922
Reservations, tel 087 087 926
CapeNature's website
More about the Karoo
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
