An opportunity has arisen to secure lasting protection for a landscape of global conservation importance, and your name can help make it happen. BirdLife South Africa is supporting efforts to declare the Maratang Nature Reserve, and you can add your voice by signing our Letter of Support by 15 September 2026.
The proposed Maratang Nature Reserve falls within a Critical Biodiversity Area rated “Optimal” and forms part of the Steenkampsberg Grassland Key Biodiversity Area, a site of global conservation importance. It safeguards three poorly protected and threatened ecosystems, Steenkampsberg Montane Grassland, Northern Afrotemperate Forest, and Lydenburg Thornveld, habitats that are steadily disappearing across South Africa.
Animals that have been observed include the Southern Bald Ibis, Ground Woodpecker, Cape Vulture, Crowned Eagle, Lesser Kestrel, Red-footed Falcon, Verreaux’s Eagle, Southern Mountain Reedbuck, Leopard, Brown Hyaena, and African Clawless Otter. Rare and range-restricted plants grow here that exist almost nowhere else on Earth, alongside isolated populations of the Natal Ghost Frog.
Protecting this site is about more than one valley: it directly advances South Africa’s commitments to global targets to protect 30% of land by 2030, to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and to safeguarding montane grasslands and forests that lock away carbon and feed our rivers.
