The newly declared 1 300-hectare Avontuur Nature Reserve lies about 15 km from the little town of Nieuwoudtville, a town popularly known as the “Bulb Capital of the World” as it is a global hotspot for geophytes.

The declaration was published in a gazette notice on 27 January 2025.

The Avontuur property was bought by WWF in 2008 after it was designated a critical biodiversity area which includes unique wetlands and deep sands supporting pristine fynbos that was under threat from expanding rooibos tea farming. Since then, surveys have shown that there are some 495 plant species with at least 50 regionally endemic species on the property and three known only to occur on Avontuur.

Servicing this rich floral diversity are a great many indigenous and endemic species of solitary bees. Solitary bees are important pollinators and make up the majority of bee species in the world. Unlike honey bees, they live either alone or in small groups. More than 50 species of solitary bees have been collected on Avontuur, some providing specialised pollination services to locally endemic plants. One such bee is the Eupetersia avontuurensis which was first described in 2012.

When Avontuur was first purchased, much of the land was degraded because of overgrazing and uncontrolled ploughing of the tillite, clay-rich, stony soils on the eastern half of the property, causing extensive erosion. In the fynbos areas, alien plant invasions were a threat on the 800 hectares of otherwise pristine fynbos where some of the fragile and unique plant species abound.

Since the land was acquired by WWF, it has been managed by Avontuur Sustainable Agriculture which has demonstrated that sustainable agricultural practices can be supported alongside conservation efforts. Restoration and rehabilitation of transformed and degraded areas has restored soils and biodiversity.

Stocking Merino sheep at a low intensity and rotating the grazed areas to support the re-establishment of endemic plants has demonstrated the positive impacts of conservation farming on both soil and vegetation.

Avontuur has provided an ideal learning environment for sharing this holistic approach to conservation and farming.

Over the years, local small-scale farmers and learners have participated in workshops and field visits that have enabled them to “learn the landscape” and appreciate the results of vegetation restoration and soil rehabilitation efforts.

Local contractors have erected fences, removed alien trees and undertaken extensive soil erosion control interventions, learning skills they have been able to apply elsewhere. Two local aspirant farmers are co-owners of the Merino flock and derive benefit from the income from the wool and sale of young stock.

Noel Oettle, managing director of Avontuur Sustainable Agriculture, explains: “Water and healthy topsoil are essential for healthy terrestrial ecosystems. When plant cover is lost water becomes an erosive force, part of a vicious cycle that creates more hostile arid conditions. What we have been doing at Avontuur is slowing down the movement of water through the landscape so that it soaks into the soil and nurtures plants and animals, creating a virtuous cycle once more.”

The Avontuur property forms a crucial part of a network of protected areas on the botanically rich Bokkeveld plateau and conserves the wetlands that feed the Grasberg River upstream of the well-known Nieuwoudtville Waterfall. Over recent years seasonal “flower tourism” has broadened into year-round visits, boosting the local economy and providing much-needed employment.