South Africa Political Boundaries

South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa with a coastline stretching 2,500km from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic, southwards around the tip of Africa and then north to subtropical Mozambique on the Indian Ocean. The narrow, low-lying coastal zone is separated from a high inland plateau by a mountainous escarpment. Wildcliff is in the Langeberg mountain range, near Heidelberg in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Wildcliff Topography

Wildcliff is a mountain wilderness reserve consisting of 955 hectares (2350 acres), deep kloofs with afro-montane forest, rocky mountaintops and high meadows of fynbos. It is in the Langeberg mountain range of South Africa's Western Cape. It borders on the Boosmansbos Wilderness Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Wildcliff Statellite Image

Wildcliff lies in the Langeberg (long mountain) range, which forms part of the Cape Fold Belt stretching from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. This range dates back about 300 million years.The Langeberg Mountain Range runs in a generally east-west direction and is approximately 170 km long. The Langeberg's most westerly point is located 35 km west of the town of Swellendam; the range ends some 30 km north-east of Riversdale in the east. The open plains of the Little Karoo border the north of the mountain range, while to the south lies the Agulhas Plain and the Overberg wheatbelt. The "hidden valley" running east-west through Wildcliff can be seen clearly in the satellite photo below.

Regional Geology

The Cape Fold Belt is the folded sedimentary sequence of rocks in the south-western corner of South Africa. The rocks are generally sandstones and shales, with shales forming the valleys and the erosion resistant sandstones forming the parallel mountain ranges, reaching a maximum height at Seweweekspoortpiek (Afrikaans: Seven Weeks Defile Peak) at 2325m. Even though the mountains are very old by Andean and Alpine standards, they remain steep and rugged, owing to the resistant nature of the quartzitic sandstones of the Table Mountain Group.

Regional Poverty Index

This map indicates the percent of the population in the Wildcliff area that is living in poverty. While not as conducive to intensive agriculture as the coast, the Langeburg range can support some agriculture in contrast to the hot dry interior plateau. This may account for the relative levels of poverty as you move inland.