Conservation Issues

The Karkloof Conservancy faces many issues:

The first was the very serious threat from Eskom who were busy investigating 4 different routes through the Karkloof where an enormous 765 KV power line would have be erected.

The TV programme 50/50 came to the Karkloof on the 14th,15th and 16th July 2010 to film a short documentary about the threat from Eskom.

The Karkloof region is, according to its many conservancy members, the jewel of the Midlands. It is made up of one of the last largest remaining tracts of mistbelt forests, cascading waterfalls, pristine wetlands and grasslands which are home to many highly threatened species – these being the Cape parrot, Southern Ground Hornbill, all three crane species, Oribi, the Karkloof blue butterfly and many grassland flowers and indigenous trees.  There are 8 breeding pairs of wattled cranes in the Karkloof and there are less than 260 of this critically endangered species of bird left in the whole of South Africa.

The Karkloof Conservancy is extremely active and monitors the wildlife in the area by holding annual game counts. It also runs conservation awareness projects each year at the four local farmschools. This region is renowned for its amazing biodiversity and the local farmers feel very strongly about the need to preserve its wildlife for the future generations.

This is also an intensive farming area and good yields of maize, soyabeans, vegetables and commercial timber are recorded. There are also large dairy, pig and beef enterprises and the Karkloof is well known for its high agricultural productivity due to its generous rainfall and modern farming methods.

The proposed Eskom powerlines therefore posed a threat to this area of amazing biodiversity and also to the food and timber productivity of this region.

The second issue is the proposal of the first housing development in the Karkloof. The developer hopes to erect 8 houses and 2 self catering bed and breakfasts. The area is at present zoned for agriculture and eco-tourism and the Conservancy has stated their concerns to the Environmental Consultants who are dealing with this case. The proposed development is directly below the indigenous mistbelt forests and in close proximity to the Karkloof Nature Reserve.