Contact

Please note: Content for this website has been put together from the Banghoek Books of 1998-9 and from my own notes, experiences and photographs collected during almost 30 years in this beautiful valley. I would welcome any corrections, edits and additions from members and especially fresh pictures of your properties and views and sightings to create a gallery. Currently the pictures are fairly one-sided from the South-eastern side of the reserve.

Regarding history, I have had contact with the Heritage Portal who have helped verify some of the historical content; my biggest find with their help was the collection of the excellent Poortermans paintings of 1849 where Banghoek and all the valley farms are shown with an original map. Described by James Walton, 24 August 2018, as a “record of the vernacular architecture of an area which probably has no parallel anywhere else in the country”, it is a real treasure.

Regarding Flora and Fauna, a renewed contact with Kirstenbosch and Sanbi (South African National Biodiversity Institute) has verified the list of birds and fynbos and also our claims to two new and rare proteas. In this sense please be on the lookout for these two plants so we can add to the world sightings and body of photographs which at this moment is poor.

Furthermore, I am very grateful to Tony Robelo of Sanbi who has given our Banghoekians their own space on the iNaturalist portal which solves a problem that I have had for years; that of cataloguing the flowers and birds of Banghoek with their scientific names. INaturalist connects our little nature reserve to a network of 1.8 million naturalists (Dec 2020) mapping and sharing global biodiversity. As custodians of one of the largest and purest stretches of fynbos in South Africa we have much to share. Have fun as you upload and identify your photographs: if you don’t have a photograph – the site finds it for you upon listing the name!)  www.inaturalist.org/projects/banghoek-private-nature-reserve

©Colleen Backstrom Banghoek Private Game Reserve July 2021