The Blaauwberg Conservation Area (BCA) is one of Cape Town’s newest reserves. It is famous for its views of Table Mountain and Robben Island across Table Bay.

Reserve development started in 2003, and the environmental education centre was opened in 2004. The Provincial Government proclaimed the BCA a Local Authority Nature Reserve in October 2006.

The BCA is one of the richest areas of biodiversity in Cape Town. It conserves Renosterveld, Sand Fynbos and Strandveld as well as a wetland, coastal dunes and nearly seven kilometers of rocky and sandy coastline.

The BCA will eventually be about 2000 hectares in size. This will enable the City to bring back some of the large animals that used to occur here, like Eland (Taurotragus oryx) and Red Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus). By 2006, about half of this land had been secured for conservation.

In the BCA you can find evidence like shell middens that prove that people have lived here for thousands of years. This was also the site of the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, when the British took possession the Cape from the Dutch for the second time. On Blaauwberg Hill you can find structures built during the Second World War.

So far about 555 different plant species have been identified in the BCA. Forty seven of these plants are threatened with extinction! They include plants shown on the poster, e.g. Disa draconis, Euphorbia marlothiana, Lampranthus filicaulis, Leucospermum hypophyllocarpodendron (Vulnerable); Gladiolus watsonius (Endangered); and Leucadendron levisanus (Critically Endangered).

42 mammal species (including marine mammals), 140 birds, 28 reptiles, five amphibians, and many insect species have been recorded in the reserve.

You can see marine mammals like Cape Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus), Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena australis) and Dusky Dolphins (Lagenodelphis hosei) from the beach.

In 2002, a skink was found in the BCA that had never been recorded before! This small burrowing skink was named Scelotes montispectus(say: “skel-o-tees mon-ti-spek-tus”), which means “the lizard that looks at the mountain”. This name was chosen because of the view of Table Mountain from the BCA. Recently, this reptile has also been found in Langebaan.

Blaauwberg Conservation Area is the only place in the City of Cape Town where you can find mammals like the White Tailed Mouse (Mystromus albicaudatus), Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) and a bird known as Layard’s Titbabbler (Parisoma layardi).

Threatened animal species include:

• Mammals (3): White Tailed Mouse (Mystromus albicaudatus) - Endangered; Honey Badger (Mellivora capensis) and Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) - Near Threatened

• Birds (6): the Vulnerable African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus), Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradisea) and Cape Gannet (Morus capensis); and the Near Threatened African Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus moquini), Black Harrier (Circus maurus) and Cape Cormorant (Phalocrocorax capensis)

• Reptiles (1): Kasner's Dwarf Burrowing Skink (Scelotes kasneri) - Vulnerable

In the past, off-road vehicles used to run over African Black Oystecatcher eggs and chicks in the dunes. Since the BCA was formed, vehicles have been kept off the dunes and beach and these threatened birds have started to breed successfully again.

The BCA Environmental Education Centre at Eerstesteen is only 50 m from the beach. It offers educational visits for 50 Grade 1 - 12 learners at a time. Classes can learn about local history, archaeology, geography and geology, as well as the plants, animals and ecology of local ecosystems. The Centre can also be used for meetings, talks and workshops.

The BCA is a valuable recreational area. There are braai and picnic facilities, walking trails, bird watching opportunities and a beautiful stretch of beach for walking, surfing and fishing.

The Friends Group offers interesting botanical, cultural and historical talks and walks, and helps the reserve staff with tasks like clearing invasive alien plants.