The Fountains Valley is a recreational resort at the southern entrance to Pretoria in South Africa.
It was proclaimed as a nature reserve by President Paul Kruger on 1 February 1895. Consequently, this 60 ha reserve, along with the contiguous Groenkloof Nature Reserve, constitute the oldest nature reserves on the African continent.
The Apies River flows through the resort, and there are two natural water sources in the area. The resort has various recreational facilities such as a caravan park, swimming pool, lapa, playground and barbecue facilities.
The historic ruins of the house of Lucas Cornelius Bronkhorst (1795-1875) is located near the resort. The Bronkhorst family was part of Hendrik Potgieter's trek party during the Great Trek, and were the first owners of the farms in the district where Pretoria was later established.
The Groenkloof Nature Reserve, located adjacent to the Fountains Valley at the southern entrance to Pretoria, was the first game sanctuary in Africa. The reserve of 600 ha is managed by the Department of Nature Conservation.
The National Heritage Monument is located within the reserve. It is flanked by Christina de Wit Avenue and Nelson Mandela Drive, that separate it from the Voortrekker Monument and Klapperkop Nature Reserves. In aggregate these reserves conserve some 1,400 ha of bankenveld vegetation which is threatened in Gauteng.
More information: Groenkloof Nature Reserve
This valley on the southern outskirts of Pretoria was proclaimed a game sanctuary by President Paul Kruger on 25 February 1895.
Its main purpose was to protect the shy and timid oribi, which occurred there, and other game that were being depleted by hunters.
For many years however, the reserve was leased for exotic timber plantation, to supply wood and paper. A memorial wall is to be seen beside traces of the homestead of the early pioneer Lucas Bronkhorst, who settled here around 1839.
In April 2015 the head of the reserve, David Boshoff, was suspended and evicted from his council home by the Tshwane metro HR manager. The eviction came in the fifth month of a strike by the majority of the reserve's workers, who reportedly negated their agreement with management to return to work in February.
When the reserve was reproclaimed in 1994, the plantations were removed to allow the natural vegetation to regenerate. Open grassland occurs along the Apies valley and the higher plateau. Native trees occur at varying densities on the hillsides and in the lower valley. These include white stinkwood, hook-thorn, mountain karee, velvet bushwillow, wild pear and puzzle bush.
More information: All Trails
Since 1999 the reserve was stocked with various game species. These include zebra, blesbok, impala, kudu, blue wildebeest, red hartebeest (since 2002), giraffe (2002), sable (2003) and ostrich. Jackal, duiker and rock hyrax are also resident.
Over 120 bird species have been recorded in the reserve and the adjacent Fountains Valley. Game birds include guineafowl, Swainson's spurfowl and crested francolin. The grassy floodplain of the Apies river and its riparian vegetation provide breeding habitat for a number of weaver, bishop and widow species, while the open woodlands on the lower hill slopes provide breeding territories for bushshrike and tchagra species.
Special invertebrates of the reserve include Gunning's rock scorpion, golden-starburst baboon spider, the violin spider L. speluncarum which is endemic to caves of the Pretoria area, and the purse-web spider, Calommata transvaalica, which is severely threatened by urbanization in Gauteng.
More information: Show Me
of what's real and what's not real.
So I go back to South Africa to both
lose myself and gain awareness of myself.
Every time I go back, it doesn't take long for me
to get caught into a very different thing.
A very different sense of myself.
Dave Matthews
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