MAGALIESBERGRising 330 m above the surrounding plains, the Magaliesberg is the most conspicuous of the three parallel quartzite ridges dominating the landscape north of Johannesburg. With a length of about 170 km it stretches in an arc from just south of Rustenburg to Pretoria and then eastwards to the Bronkhorspruit Dam, forming a natural divide between the highveld and the bushveld. Originally named the Cashan Mountains, the Voortrekkers named the range after Mogale, a Tswana chief, and corrupted it to Magaliesberg. Dissected by numerous kloofs with crystal-clear streams, waterfalls and pools, the range is home to over 150 bird species, including three breeding colonies of the Cape vulture and a variety of other raptors, kingfishers, crimsonbreasted shrike, the elusive African finfoot and the Marico flycatcher. Animals occurring here include leopard, brown hyaena, mountain reedbuck, bushbuck, klipspringer and baboon. Although the Magaliesberg is almost entirely private property, most of the range was declared a Natural Area in 1977 and a Protected Natural Environment in 1993. |
