No trip to the L’Algulhas National Park will be complete without making a day-trip out of visiting this wonderful location which is known as Cape Nature De Mond Nature Reserve.
A quick thirty minute drive to reach this location from Struisbaai will get you here. There is an entry fee at the gate, where you can get your map and information regarding the reserve.
Cape Nature does offer accommodation here, but it only one house that accommodates 8 people with no electricity or services.
You can choose to take a short walk to the end of the board walk, or you can make a lovely beach hike out of it, and venture right to the river mouth and around to return on the opposite side of the river back to the entry gate.
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Heuningnes River Mouth at De Mond Nature Reserve |
We were limited by the crowd and would have loved to complete the full circular walk around the mouth to the beach and back. We recommend that you pack a lovely picnic bag to enjoy the 7km sterna trail which passes through the riverine vegetation, dune forest and stabilised dunes before following the coast to the river mouth and salt marshes.
The reserve has a rich and varied bird life. De Mond Nature reserve provides a unique destination for the breeding grounds of the threatened Damara and Caspian Terns. Photo credit to Sharon Brink , Heyne Brink , Christna Steyn
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Damara Tern at De Mond Nature Reserve |
Thank you to Peter Chadwick for motivating us to visit yet another superb destination after reading his article in the Spring 2017 Wild Magazine.
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