• Strandveld vegetation grows along the West Coast and on the Cape Flats north of False Bay.
• Strandveld grows in deep, well-drained sand along the coast. This sand blows inland from beaches and therefore contains a lot of calcium from fragments of seashells. This calcium makes the sand alkaline.
• Mean Annual Precipitation in Strandveld is about 350 mm, with most rain falling in winter.
• Unlike Fynbos and Renosterveld, many Strandveld plants are succulent, so the vegetation does not burn easily. If Strandveld does burn, the veld can take many years to recover.

• Strandveld is an Afrikaans word meaning "beach vegetation". It refers to the fact that this type of vegetation grows along the coast.

What plants grow in Strandveld?

• Strandveld consists mainly of tough, broad-leafed shrubs and almost no proteas or ericas. The pH of the soil is too high (alkaline) for most true Fynbos plants to survive.

• Typical Strandveld plants include:
  • Broad-leafed trees and shrubs
  • Succulent shrubs and groundcovers
  • Restios
  • Annuals
  • Geophytes
• Thickets of White Milkwood, one of South Africa’s protected trees, can develop in mature Strandveld where the soils are rich in organic matter.

• Many Strandveld plants produce berries, which attract fruit-eating birds and other animals.
• The Cape Dune Molerat is very common in the Strandveld, living in burrows and pushing up large piles of sand. The Mole Snake preys on molerats in their burrows.
• Other mammals like the Cape Grey Mongoose, Cape Grysbok and Chacma Baboon are also found in Strandveld.

Conserving the Strandveld

• Only about 250 ha out of a total of 550 km² of Strandveld is formally conserved.

• In the City of Cape Town, large areas of Strandveld have been developed for housing along the West Coast and on the Cape Flats in recent years.
• This habitat is also threatened by sand mining, invasive alien plants and too frequent fires.
• On the Cape Flats, Dune Strandveld is endangered. Only 5.6% of this habitat is conserved.