Kloofendal Nature Reserve is a municipal nature reserve in

Roodepoort Roodepoort ( ) is a city in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality, Roodepoort became part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Johannesburg municipality in the late 1990s, along with Randburg ...

, South Africa. It is one of the first

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

s in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. It is also recognized as the place where gold was first mined in Johannesburg. The old gold mine can be visited by appointment. There are hiking trails and a small

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

Small animals in the reserve

Many small mammals are found at Kloofendal, including: *

Duiker A duiker is a small to medium-sized brown antelope native to sub-Saharan Africa, found in heavily wooded areas. The 22 extant species, including three sometimes considered to be subspecies of the other species, form the subfamily Cephalophinae ...

Mountain reedbuck The mountain reedbuck (''Redunca fulvorufula'') is an antelope found in mountainous areas of much of sub-Saharan Africa. Subspecies There are three recognized subspecies. * ''Redunca fulvorufula adamauae'' - Adamawa mountain reedbuck * ''Redunc ...

Rock hyrax The rock hyrax (; ''Procavia capensis''), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (from some interpretations of a word used in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Common ...

Mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family has two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to southern Europe, A ...

* Southern African hedgehog *

Black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas'') is a medium-sized Caninae, canine native to East Africa, eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly . One region includes the southernmost tip of the continent, includin ...

Blesmol The blesmols, also known as mole-rats, or African mole-rats, are burrowing rodents of the family Bathyergidae. They represent a distinct evolution of a Subterranean fauna, subterranean life among rodents much like the pocket gophers of North Am ...

Birds

Kloofendal is home to many species of birds and in particular: *

Black sparrowhawk The black sparrowhawk (''Astur melanoleucus''), sometimes known as the black goshawk or great sparrowhawk, is a bird of prey belonging to the family (biology), family Accipitridae. It was formerly placed in the genus ''Accipiter''. It occurs mai ...

* Wailing cisticola

History of the gold mine

The

Confidence Reef Confidence Reef is a historical gold-bearing quartz vein situated within the Kloofendal Nature Reserve, in close proximity to Roodepoort, South Africa. Discovery The Confidence Reef was discovered by Fred Pine Theophilus Struben and his broth ...

was discovered by the brothers Fred and Harry Struben on 18 September 1884. This led to an influx of prospectors to the

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand (, ; ; locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, w ...

, culminating in the discovery of the Main gold reef in 1886. The first payable gold on the Rand was extracted by the Strubens on this site but the Confidence reef bore little gold and their mine was unprofitable. The mine was declared a National Monument on 29 July 1983.

References

External links

Friends of Kloofendal website

Trail map of Kloofendal Nature Reserve
{{Greater Johannesburg Nature reserves in South Africa Johannesburg Region C

Small animals in the reserve

Birds

History of the gold mine

See also

References

External links