Plant diversity in the Baviaanskloof
What makes the vegetation at Sederkloof Lodge and the greater Baviaanskloof special, is the diversity found here. You are bound to come across a wide variety of plants during your hikes at Sederkloof Lodge.
Of special interest, are the different biomes that occur here. A biome is the highest level of ecosystem recognised by ecologists. Plants with similar adaptations against similar weather and earth conditions tend to aggregate in very distinguishable groups. These groups are called biomes, and are used to classify vegetation types. A typical example of a biome would be the grasslands of the Serengeti in Tanzania. It consists primarily of grasses, with some Acacia trees dispersed in between. In the northern parts of South Africa, one finds similar Acacia grasslands, which are also classified under the savannah biome. There are eight biomes in South Africa. What is remarkable of the Baviaanskloof World Heritage Site, is that seven of the eight biomes are recognized in the broader Baviaanskloof region. The region’s vegetation is extremely diverse, probably due to the geological diversity of the area. Baviaanskloof biomes include fynbos, subtropical thicket, nama-karoo, succulent karoo, grassland, savannah and forest biomes.
At Sederkloof Lodge, you will find the fynbos biome up in the mountains, subtropical thicket and valley bushveld biomes on the foothills, Nama karoo and succulent karoo biomes interspersed between other biomes, and the forest biome in the deep gorges that are enclosed within high rising cliffs.
One can further distinguish between different vegetation types, which are mostly dominated by fynbos and subtropical thicket elements. A vegetation type consists of either a single or mixture of biomes. Succulent thicket, for instance, contains subtropical thicket and grassland biome elements. The section below talks a bit more about some of the biomes that occur at Sederkloof Lodge i.e. Fynbos, subtropical thicket, savannah, Nama karoo, succulent karoo and forest biomes.
