Friday, 4 October 2013

The Way to and In The Cape Point Nature Reserve




THE CAPE POINT NATURE RESERVE



Sim singing opera for the baboons




This was my first time going on a field trip in one of the world heritage site in South Africa and it was quite an experience as a lover of nature. I was stud before I even reach my destination (cape point) by the beauty of Cape Town with wonderful natural structural land forms which are part of the beautiful Cape Peninsula. The view of Table Mountain and the well vegetated area of Rondebosch kept me alive as I approach the Cape point. The reserve greeted me with the wild dry type of vegetation and on entrance it looked nothing interesting than an area than will soon be a desert in few decade to come. On the same vein the weather was just another factor which made the place to be even more unpleasant but I waited to observe the entire reserve before I can make my final judgement about it.
In the middle of the reserve as my transport (bus) moves further, then I started to notice the beauty underneath the dry conditions of the place with the vast flora and fauna adapted to the area. The bus took a stop and along the road there were some few buildings and in them there were inscriptions on the walls, the one that caught my attention was that the cape point is the smallest and the richest flora kingdom home for 8200 species, 25% of which occur in the Cape Peninsula and 1016 found on the southern tip. That was not the only thing that started to interest me about the place, I started to experience two types of weather conditions; coming from the entrance the right side of the ocean was cold and windy while the left side was calm and warm. In the heart of the fine bushes I became aware of different animals forming part of the Cape Flora kingdom among which I noted the Ostrich, Baboons and some lovely birds. 

The Land scape and the different types of structural land forms were just majestic to view.  I am  very fond of nature not only the animals but also the abiotic components of the biosphere. I Therefore enjoyed myself observing different structural land forms and the associated vegetation, I looked at the tor formation which is the sand stone type of rock and I climbed it. On top of the beautiful tors I was trilled to experience different types of weather conditions, this is mainly due to the fact that the cape point was once seen as the point were the Atlantic and the Indian ocean meet even though the geographical emergent of these oceans is the cape  cape agulhas. The effect of the agulhas and the benguela current are felt very well and I could feel them too while I there on top.

Ndu and Sim
Then I went to the light house, that is where I brought back to memory lane being taught of the history of the lighthouse. The reserve was first named the Cape storms and the lighthouse was build as the landmark that will give directions and warning to the ships in the sea. There are two lighthouses in the Cape Peninsula the second one was build because the first one would from time to time get covered by mist, thus prompting the construction of the second lighthouse. The second lighthouse is now the best in the world with 10 million powers of handle. The trip educated and developed me as a scientist about the importance of preserving nature for future research and future generation.



3 comments:

  1. sounds like an interesting excursion

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    1. Believe me you, interesting is an understatement....it was legendary!!!!!!!

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