Crayfish Factory #3: Strandveld
Note: The given coordinates are for the jetty by the parking area – to get the cache coordinates – and hint - you will need to complete the puzzle accessed by clicking the image below . . .
The cache, a small camo-taped tablet pot, is hidden towards the edge of the thick Cape Flats Dune Strandveld some 200m north-west of the factory.
Strandveld is Afrikaans for ‘beach scrub’ referring to the fact that it grows along the coast. This unique type of vegetation is endangered as it is rapidly disappearing as can be seen from a comparison of Cape Town vegetation maps showing its original and current distribution (see Gallery).
To reach the cache location: take the M65 Smitswinkel-Fish Hoek road as far as the crossroads @ S 34 9.881 E 18 20.527 and turn south here along Lighthouse Road (signposted Soetwater). When you reach the junction @ S 34 10.400 E 18 20.533, just before the Soetwater entrance gate, turn left (south) and head down to the large parking area at the end of the road.
From here, take the sandy track starting from the southern edge of this area which heads towards the factory, then walk along the beach edge to the cache location.
Alternatively, take the sandy path starting on the western edge of the parking area @ S 34 10.643 E 18 20.624 and heading between the strandveld to the cache location.
Only about 250 ha of a total 550 km2 of Strandveld is formally conserved. In recent years large areas have been developed for housing along the West Coast and on the Cape Flats.
It is also threatened by illegal sand mining, invasive alien plants and too frequent fires. On the Cape Flats, it is endangered with only 5.6% conserved.
Some more facts:
- It is endemic to coastal areas around Cape Town including the Cape Flats north of False Bay and grows in deep, well-drained sand along the coast which blows inland from beaches. This contains a lot of calcium from fragments of seashells making the sand alkaline.
- It covers and stabilises sand dunes and is incredibly colourful in spring when it bursts into flower.
- Unlike Fynbos and Renosterveld, many Strandveld plants are succulent, so it does not burn easily – but if it does it takes many years to recover.
- It can support a very high biomass of browsing animals, and in the past was grazed by large herds.
Cape Dune Molerats are very common, living in burrows and pushing up large piles of sand. Cape Mole Snakes (see videos here and here) prey on them in their burrows- Other mammals found in Strandveld include the Cape Grey Mongoose, Cape Grysbok (see video here) and Chacma Baboon
- Vegetation is typically composed of areas of tall, tough, broad-leafed evergreen shrubs, with
numerous bulbs, grasses (eg. restios), herbs (eg. geraniums), succulents (eg. sour figs) and annual flowers (eg. many types of daisies) growing in between. There are almost no proteas or ericas – the soil pH being too high (alkaline) for most true Fynbos plants to survive.
- In the past, dense forests of large Milkwood trees were found at Noordhoek, Olifantsbos, Macassar and Gordons Bay. This tree thrives in soil rich in organic material
- Larger trees indigenous to coastal Strandveld include: Milkwood, Sea guarri, Cape Camphor tree, Candlewood, Wild olive, Coastal silkybark
- There are also endemic plant species such as the critically endanged succulent Narrow-leaf Brightfig (Lampranthus tenuifolius)
Many Strandveld plants produce berries, which attract fruit-eating birds (eg. sunbirds) and animals