De Zeekoe’s Fauna & Flora

Fauna

De Zeekoe is blessed with 162 bird species. Unique under them is our resident Fish Eagle pair, currently being studied by the University of Cape Town. The youngest of the fish eagles has been tagged as part of the long-term research project done by Adam Welz.

Although African Fish Eagles have been fairly well studied in East Africa, we know very little about our South African birds, which seem to behave very differently to the East African Fish Eagle.

Their numbers are thought to be rising in the Western Cape, but we have no idea how long individuals live, how far they fly each day to feed, what threats they might face and how long they take to become breeding adults.

De Zeekoe is proud to be a Birder-Friendly Establishment.

Other animals that call De Zeekoe home are otters, monkeys, springbok, duiker and many more. The SHY FIVE are unique amongst them – aartvark, aartwolf, bat-eared fox, meerkat and porcupine. These animals are rarely seen; to spot them your senses have to be keen!

At night, these animals, owls, hares, civets and genets claim back the veld. During the day, however, tortoises and other reptiles will be visible, alongside some meerkat and the odd klipspringer or grysbok.

Flora

De Zeekoe is one of the world’s 17 ‘hot spots’ with 3 overlapping flower zones mostly seen during August and the beginning of October. Blankets of colour cover the landscape and when admired up close – nature indeed is perfect as each and every flower is amazing in creation and colour!

The vegetation is remarkably diverse, featuring renosterveld, mountain fynbos, karoo-veld, spekboom veld, and numerous geophytes species.

Some species will be in bloom virtually throughout the year. Most plants flower in spring, but early autumn is the time that many protea species flower, attracting large numbers of sugarbirds and sunbirds.

Many of the interesting plants on the higher Swartberg peaks, including the rare Protea venusta, are in flower during mid-summer (December – February).