Rietvlei Nature Reserve

15 minutes from my home is a breathtaking nature reserve that covers 4000 ha or nearly 10,000 acres. It has two dams, a power station, and wonderful animals.

On Saturday, my friend and neighbor, Sue picked me up and we met her friend there, who goes weekly and knows the park well. Sue drove us in her Mazda CX-5, but there is a jeep that goes out during the day and at night. The cost to get in is $4.81 in US dollars. Most of the roads were in good condition and we did fine, and we only off-roadies once.

It has been a very moderate summer here with plenty of rainfall, so the brush, or Veld, is very thick. There is a flower running rampant throughout the park that is invasive. Volunteers are trying to clear it, but there’s just so much of it. It’s very beautiful, but this country definitely makes an attempt to remove non-native species.

Riding in the backseat behind these two old friends who giggled and sang all throughout brought such a smile to my face! They delighted as much as I did in the animals.

Photography was a bit tricky from the backseat, as I had to film either out the front windshield or out the left or right back windows, which only went down halfway. The sights were stunning!

Partway through we stopped to have lunch at the old farmhouse. It dates back to 1875, when the Erasmus family built it and raised cattle. The government purchased the property in 1927 and built the dam to provide Pretoria with a water supply. Eventually, it became the nature reserve. The Erasmus family were descendants of the Voortrekkers who settled in the area in the mid 1800s.