Skilderkrantz - Nature Reserve and Conservation Initiative
Kouga River just visible in the distance
Skilderkrantz Conservation InitiativeSkilderkrantz Conservation Initiative
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 Skilderkrantz, from the old Dutch - Skilder, to paint or depict. Krantz, rocky cliff face.

Refers to the San rock art found in our area.


 

Kouga River running through Skilderkrantz
 

SKILDERKRANTZ NATURE RESERVE
Rewilding the Landscape, Rewilding Ourselves

Skilderkrantz is a land care and rewilding project in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Our home is 7700 ha of wilderness and recovering farmland within the planning domain of the Baviaanskloof Megareserve. Working with others our vision extends beyond this footprint to envision the rewilding of large connected tracts of marginal farmland which have become, or are expected to become economically unviable and their linking to existing protected areas.

This entails the reversal where possible of the enormous damage inflicted by human activity, the protection of remaining biodiversity and ecological processes where they still exist and the reintroduction of key species where they have been extirpated. It also involves the humility to realise when it�s time to do very little, just to stand back and observe what happens!

Beyond this we are concerned with the reconnection of humans to "nature", convinced that many of the ills besetting the world arise from our separation from it. Apart from the directly anthropocentric benefits from �conservation� such as water, new employment opportunities and mitigation of climate change, it is important for its own sake, because our wellbeing cannot be separated from the whole and because every element of this earth is here for its own sake, not only for ours.

We wish to offer a place for people to come and stand in awe of life and to experience the deep peace arising from immersion in wild nature. We wish to be part of the global network of people working towards solutions to the crisis we are in. Nature cannot be improved on, it's our place in it we need to reconsider. A better world is possible, but that requires every one of us to engage NOW!

Site updated by Croydon-IT - August 2014

tranquil pool
 

Rhebuck ewes
 

Rescued leopard