Many travellers to Cape Town may be unaware that the city has its very own pod of Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) that has called the Rondevlei section of the False Bay Nature Reserve home since 1981.
This small family group of hippos has, over the past four decades, formed a critical and very special part of the wetland ecology under the caring and watchful eye of the City’s Biodiversity Management team.
The hippos were lost to Cape Town approximately 300 years ago after being hunted to extinction and, as a result, the City also lost an ecosystem engineer from the wetlands of the Fynbos Biome.
The situation was reversed through the vision of dedicated conservation biologists when two males were re-introduced to the Rondevlei section of the False Bay Nature Reserve in 1981.
They were joined by two females in 1983, and thus the initiative of restoring some of its natural heritage began.
“These hippos have shaped the False Bay Nature Reserve since their…