Although the purchasing of land for conservation is NOT our primary function, there are a couple of special places where this is warranted. One such area is the cluster of Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld, found just north of De Hoop Nature Reserve. This essentially represents the largest, most contiguous and well-connected stretch of Lowland Renosterveld in the Overberg. In fact, this area comprises the largest area of remnant Lowland Renosterveld left in its entire original distribution area.

With our partners, including WWF South Africa, we continue to secure a few key farms in this cluster, which we hope to ultimately connect into one large Nature Reserve. The first step towards this dream was taken when Haarwegskloof was purchased by WWF South Africa in late 2013 and handed over to the ORCT for management. Then, in 2023, an influential partnership between international conservation organisations and the ORCT secured the protection of a 500-hectare portion of the farm, Plaatjieskraal.  This farm borders on Haarwegskloof, and together they make up the most extensive area of protected Renosterveld and the largest cluster of contiguous Renosterveld left on earth.

The partners who teamed up to buy the portion of Plaatjieskraal are the ORCT, WWF South Africa, the UK-based World Land Trust, the IUCN NL Land Acquisition Fund, as well as WildLandscapes International, based in America. The property will be managed by the ORCT, in partnership with WWF South Africa and the World Land Trust.

Read more about this exciting development and how we are undertaking unique projects on this reserve!