Misplaced Pages

Tankwa Karoo National Park

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Tanqua Karoo) Not to be confused with Karoo National Park. "Tankwa Karoo" redirects here. For the papyrus boat used on Lake Tana in Ethiopia, see Tankwa. For the river in Ethiopia, see Tanqwa. Conservation area west of Sutherland in the Western and Northern Cape

Tankwa Karoo National Park
Springboks in Tankwa Karoo National Park
Location of the park
LocationNorthern Cape, South Africa
Nearest cityCeres
Coordinates32°15′S 19°45′E / 32.250°S 19.750°E / -32.250; 19.750
Area1,436 km (554 sq mi)
Established1986
Governing bodySouth African National Parks
www.sanparks.org/parks/tankwa-karoo
Tankwa Karoo National Park is located in South AfricaTankwa Karoo National ParkTankwa Karoo National Park (South Africa)

Tankwa Karoo National Park is a national park in South Africa. The park lies about 70 km west of Sutherland and along the border of the Northern Cape and Western Cape in Succulent Karoo habitat; a biodiversity hotspot and one of the most arid regions of South Africa.

Before the park's proclamation, the only protected area of Succulent Karoo was the 2 square kilometre patch of the Gamkaberg Nature Reserve. Succulent Karoo has, together with the Cape Floral Kingdom, been declared a biodiversity hotspot by Conservation International.

Geography

It is bounded on the east by the Roggeveld Mountains, on the west by the Cederberg, to the north by the Kouebokkeveld Mountains and on the south by the scattered foothills of the Koedoesberge and Klein Roggeveld Mountains, and the Tankwa River. The park's headquarters are located at Roodewerf. Distances from the nearest towns to the park's headquarters are: Ceres (180 km), Sutherland (120 km), Calvinia (110 km) and Middelpos (52 km).

History

Satellite image of the park, with its boundaries highlighted

In 1998 Conrad Strauss sold 280 km of sheep farm to the South African National Parks. Tankwa's area has been increased from an initial 260 km to 1436 km.

Climate

Some areas receive less than 100 mm of average annual precipitation, moisture-bearing clouds from the Atlantic Ocean being largely stopped by the Cederberg mountains.

Other low areas receive little more, as the Roodewerf station (co-ordinates: 32°14′27.9″S 20°05′44.5″E / 32.241083°S 20.095694°E / -32.241083; 20.095694) with 180 mm of mean annual rainfall. In the hottest areas of the park, the mean maximum temperature in January is 38.9 °C, and in July the mean minimum temperature ranges from about 5 to 7 °C.

Biodiversity

The park has started the reintroduction of game that used to be found naturally in the area. Research was done beforehand to ensure that introduced animals would survive on the overgrazed veld. The vegetation in the park falls within the Succulent Karoo biome and has been described as very sparse shrubland and dwarf shrubland. Several unique succulent genera occur here, such as Tanquana, Braunsia and Didymaotus. The park is home to a large variety of birds (188 species – 2015 figure), such as the black-headed canary, Ludwig's bustard, and the black-eared sparrow-lark. Peak birding season is August to October.

List of mammals

List of birds

The park's bird list currently includes 187 bird species. Birds found in the park include:

References

  1. "Tankwa Karoo National Park – Introduction". South African National Parks. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
  2. "Tankwa Karoo National Park". southafrica.net. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  3. "Tanlwa Karoo National Park Space and tranquillity in abundance". capetownmagazine.com/. 2017.
  4. "South African National Parks - SANParks - Official Website - Accommodation, Activities, Prices, Reservations".
  5. Cite error: The named reference sanparks-twanka-intro2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. "South African National Parks - SANParks - Official Website - Accommodation, Activities, Prices, Reservations".
  7. "SANParks Mobile". Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  8. ^ http://sanparks.org.za/assets/docs/groups_birders/tankwa-birding-bonanza-bird-list-2015.pdf
  9. ^ "South African National Parks - SANParks - Official Website - Accommodation, Activities, Prices, Reservations". www.sanparks.org. Retrieved 23 March 2021.

External links

Biodiversity of South Africa
National taxon checklists
Plants
Flowering
plants
Animals
Arthropods
Arachnids
  • Harvestmen
  • Microwhip scorpions
  • Pseudoscorpions
  • Scorpions
  • Shorttailed whipscorpions
  • Solifugae
  • Araneae
  • Ixodida
  • Whip spiders and tailless whip scorpions
Insects
  • Alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies
  • Beetles
  • Booklice, barklice and barkflies
  • Butterflies and moths
  • Caddisflies
  • Cockroaches and termites
  • Dragonflies and damselflies
  • Earwigs
  • Fleas
  • Flies
  • Jumping bristletails
  • Lice
  • Mantises
  • Mayflies
  • Net-winged insects
  • Notoptera
  • Orthoptera
  • Sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants
  • Scorpionflies
  • Silverfish and firebrats
  • Stick and leaf insects
  • Stoneflies
  • Strepsiptera
  • Termites
  • Thrips
  • True bugs
  • Webspinners
Molluscs
Vertebrates
Seaweeds
Fungi
Related
Regional taxon checklists and other minor lists
Biodiversity hotspots and Centres of diversity
Ecoregions
Tropical and subtropical
moist broadleaf forests
Tropical and subtropical grasslands,
savannas, and shrublands
Montane grasslands
and shrublands
Mediterranean forests,
woodlands, and scrub
Deserts and xeric shrublands
Tundra
Mangroves
Marine ecoregions
Biomes and Vegetation classification
Savanna
Grassland
Fynbos
Renosterveld
Succulent
Karoo
Albany
Thicket
and
Strandveld
Nama
Karoo
and
desert
Azonal
Forest
and
Coastal
belt
Subantarctic
biome
not on
VEGMAP
Protected areas of South Africa
South
African
National
Parks
Biosphere
reserves
Marine
protected
areas of
South
Africa
Coastal
Offshore
Management
organisations
Biodiversity research in SA
Research
organisations
Research
projects
Citizen science
databases
Botanical
gardens
Taxonomists
Related
Regional biodiversity
Legislation
Publications
Categories: