Philip Herd Nature Reserve is a nature reserve within the UNESCO Vhembe Biosphere Reserve in the Vhembe District of Limpopo Province , South Africa . The reserve is located east of the town of Musina on the Limpopo River which forms the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe . It covers an area of 12,000 hectares (Ha), of which 6,616.42 Ha is a declared protected area in terms of South Africa's National Environmental Management Act: Protected Areas Act of 2003. The reserve conserves a critically biodiverse area of Limpopo Ridge Bushveld and 1.5% of the Nzhelele River catchment (Quaternary A80G), which forms part of the Limpopo Water Management Area (WMA) established in terms of South Africa's National Water Act of 1998. The reserve operates under the brand name, The Herd Reserve .
15-513: The Philip Herd Nature Reserve was proclaimed in 1967 in the provincial government gazette (Proclamation Notice No. 281 of 1967, Transvaal Provincial Gazette No. 3291, vol. 202, 13 September 1967) and is a partnership between private landowners and the Limpopo provincial government conservation authority, the Limpopo Department of Economic Development Environment and Tourism, LEDET . The reserve
30-571: Is an organisation tasked with research and dissemination of information on biodiversity, and legally mandated to contribute to the management of the country's biodiversity resources. It was established in 2004 in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, No 10 of 2004 , under the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (later named Department of Forestry, Fisheries and
45-481: Is intended to inform climate change policy development and decision making. SANBI is legally mandated to contribute to the management of the country's biodiversity resources. The Institute hosts the Red List of South African Plants , a database with descriptions of the country's indigenous plants and their national conservation status. SANBI also maintains the website PlantZAfrica , which contains over 1,850 Plant of
60-641: Is located at GPS co-ordinates: -22.361688401047353, 30.346695811365834 The South African National Biodiversity Institute classifies the area under management as a Critical Biodiversity Area (CBA 1 and 2), a designation mirrored in the Limpopo Conservation Plan, V2, 2013 and the Vhembe District Bioregional Plan, 2017 . The reserve contributes towards conservation targets for the Limpopo Ridge Bushveld vegetation unit of
75-704: The Environment The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) is one of the departments of the South African government . It is responsible for protecting, conserving and improving the South African environment and natural resources . It was created in 2019 by the merger of the Department of Environmental Affairs with the forestry and fisheries components of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries . The branches of
90-715: The Environment ). SANBI was established on 1 September 2004 in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, No 10 of 2004. Previously, in 1989, the autonomous statutory National Botanical Institute (NBI) had been formed from the National Botanic Gardens and the Botanical Research Institute, which had been founded in the early 20th century to study and conserve the South African flora. The mandate of
105-938: The National Botanical Institute was expanded by the act to include the full diversity of the South African ecosystems. The NBI had its head office at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, and gardens and research centres throughout South Africa. Functions include providing knowledge, information, policy support and advice, managing botanical gardens for research, education and public enjoyment, and engaging in ecosystem restoration and rehabilitation programmes and providing models of best practice for biodiversity management. Core activities include research into conservation and sustainable use, garden development and horticulture, education and provision of biodiversity information systems, ecosystems rehabilitation and development of bioregional planning programmes and policies. SANBI contributes to
120-469: The Week articles, with two new Plant of the Week articles added every week. The site also contains some basic information on the vegetation of SA and related topics. Content is developed by the horticultural and scientific staff of SANBI to provide easy access to popular information. SANBI conducts nationwide biodiversity conservation assessments of various classes of animals, which generally involve field trips for
135-734: The banks of the Limpopo and Nzhelele rivers. Common mammalian species supported by the various habitats include Giraffe , Burchell's zebra , Blue wildebeest , Kudu , Impala , Waterbuck , Common eland , Gemsbok and other antelope species, including the endemic Nyala , as well as naturally occurring predators, such as leopard , African wild dog , hyena and Black-backed jackal . Over 250 bird species have been recorded, including several rare and endangered species. The following threatened species have been confirmed present on reserve: South African National Biodiversity Institute The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)
150-666: The collection of data. Interested members of the public can participate in several citizen science projects. A biodiversity knowledge and information management system is provided which integrates existing information resources for easy access for both internal and external end-users. Since 2014 Ronell Renett Klopper is the coordinator for the South African National Plant Checklist in the Fundamental Biodiversity Sciences Division of SANBI. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and
165-470: The east) of the Karoo Supergroup . Limpopo Ridge Bushveld occurs in the summer rainfall areas of southern Africa with very dry winters including the months of May to September. The mean annual precipitation is between 300 and 400 mm and it is generally a frost-free area. The vegetation structure is a moderately open savanna . Over 100 different tree species occur in the area. Important species in
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#1732852709947180-407: The reduction of poverty by providing training and creating sustainable employment in programmes for rehabilitating ecosystems, and programmes to encourage participation in biodiversity science at school level and to strengthen the quality of biodiversity teaching and learning. Research is a primary component of SANBI's agenda, and includes research into climate change and bio-adaptation. The research
195-715: The savanna biome prescribed in South Africa’s National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy, 2016 and the Limpopo Protected Areas Expansion Strategy. Typical of Limpopo Ridge Bushveld, a veld type that occurs only in the northernmost extremes of Limpopo Province, between Mapungubwe Mountain in the Mapungubwe National Park in the east and the far northern reaches of the Kruger National Park in
210-506: The tall tree segment of the open savanna include the baobab ( Adansonia digitate ); the mashatu or nyala tree ( Xanthocercis zambesiaca ); jackalberry ( Diospyros mespiliformis ); knob thorn ( Acacia nigrescens ); mrula ( Sclerocarya birrea subsp. afra ). Mopane stands ( Colophospermum mopane ) dominate the plains, white syringa ( Kirkia acuminata ) is prominent on the crests of the ridges, while groves of fever trees ( Vachellia xanthophloea ) and rock figs ( Ficus abutilifolia ) grow on
225-532: The west, the landscape is dominated by undulating, wooded hills. Rocky ridges, irregular level plains and valleys traversed with drainage courses are characteristic. The veld type occurs at an altitude of about 300m in the east up to 700m and mostly on gneiss and other rocks of the Beit Bridge Complex as well as sediments (including sandstones of the Clarens Formation) and basalt (particularly in
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