On the southwestern tip of Africa
lies a botanical wonderland,
A mountainous world,
covered in plants and animals,
many of which occur nowhere else.
Along its rocky coastline,
rich waters teem with life.
This is not a park of great beasts,
But of small intimate relationships
woven into the fabric of life.
Nowhere else on the planet, contains more unique species
in such a small area -
Than the incredible Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve.
It's spring in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve.
The park is coming to life.
An old male Puffadder is sunning himself on an exposed rocky surface.
He's more than three feet long
and thicker than the business end of a baseball bat.
Snakes are cold blooded,
and their metabolism drops during the winter
meaning they don't require as much food.
But as the rainy days of winter dissipate
he's feeling the first stirrings of hunger.
It's been weeks since his last meal.
Puffadders are vipers.
Their diamond-shaped heads contain hinged fangs
that can inject lethal cocktails of venom into prey.
Small mammals, lizards, frogs and even birds are on the menu.
But he's not yet warm enough to hunt, so for now,
he's simply relishing the exquisite feeling of sunshine on his scales.
The 45,000 acre Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
is located on the southwestern coast of South Africa.
Unlike many African parks however
it's not famous for large animals,
But for its incredible floral diversity.
The park's rugged mountains stand over three thousand feet high
and are draped in Fynbos.
Fynbos refers to a group of shrubs and plants found in South Africa's Western Cape.
It's one of the most species-rich vegetation types anywhere on earth.
Here, more than 150 plant species occur per 390 square miles -
almost double that of tropical rainforests.
At the mountain's feet, the cold Atlantic Ocean washes the rocky coastline.
The nutrient-rich upwelling
fuels underwater reefs which are also bursting with life.
Cascading rivers carve steep valleys on their way to the sea.
High in steep mountain ravines,
rare fragments of forest survive,
surrounded by the heath land of the Fynbos.
Only a few mammals live in these mountains
because the vegetation is mostly tough and unpalatable.
But what the reserve lacks in mammals it makes up for in its astonishing plant diversity.
The Kogelberg is part of the Cape Floristic Region,
which contains 9,000 plant species,
70 percent of which occur nowhere else.
Covering only .04% of the world's surface area,
this is the highest density and diversity of plant species per square mile
anywhere on earth.
The Fynbos covering these mountains is dominated by four plant families:
Ericas or heathers,
Large flowering shrubs called proteas,
Reed-like restios,
And underground tubers and bulbs known as geophytes.
These all thrive in the region's Mediterranean style climate,
With long, hot, dry summers -
And cold, wet winters.
These poor sandy soils contain few nutrients.
Every plant and animal living here
is adapted to the unique challenges posed by these conditions.
A small family of Chacma baboons
is rooting through the restio-covered landscape looking for food.
The dominant male watches over his troop.
He weighs more than 100 pounds
making him one of the largest monkeys in Africa.
Baboons are unusual monkeys.
Unlike most African primates,
they're happy on the ground away from trees.
This allows them to live in many different habitats.
Of these,
Fynbos shrub-landis the most challenging.
The sandy soils of the Kogelberg contain few nutrients and retain little water.
Plants struggle to obtain sufficient moisture
and must be able to withstand the long dry summers.
So leaves are either small or designed to limit water loss.
Fynbos gets its name from the tiny leaves of many of its plants.
In the poor soils growing leaves is expensive,
so plants deter animals from eating them.
To do this they pack their leaves with indigestible chemicals called tannins.
So for animals finding food is a constant challenge.
Restios are one of the most diverse plant groups in the Kogelberg.
There are more than 500 species of these evergreen, reed-like plants in the world.
One in three of all restios species occur here.
They more than any other plant type typify the Fynbos environment.
Restios range in size from 4 inches to over 9 feet in height.
They lack proper leaves and rely on their stems for photosynthesis.
This helps them prevent excessive water loss in the long dry summers.
Restios have male and female plants whose flowers often differ.
They're wind-pollinated
and so male flowers hang down dropping pollen into the wind,
while female flowers tend to be upright to catch the wind-blown pollen.
One reason that the Kogelberg is so diverse
is that it contains many species that live nowhere else.
Many rare plants with very localized populations survive here.
And of all the plants living in the Kogelberg,
none is more special nor synonymous with this reserve
than the Marsh Rose.
Fewer than 250 individual plants remain in the wild
as it only lives on moist seeps on the cooler south-facing slopes
where water flows continuously past its roots.
It's a fragile habitat.
Even the slightest disturbance,
such as an animal walking through the mossy substrate at its feet,
can be fatal.
Only flowering in spring,
this odd-looking resident of the Kogelberg
looks nothing like the rest of the flowers living in the Fynbos.
How it is pollinated remains a mystery.
The dominant male leads his troop down to the sea to feed on the coastal dune vegetation.
He's experienced and knows all the best feeding spots.
Succulents growing on the coast offer a reprieve
from the challenging conditions higher on the mountains.
Family life is important for baboons.
This youngster is learning where to find the best food in the reserve from his elders.
He'll stay with his mother for the first 3 months, seldom straying far from her side.
But as youngsters grow, they become more independent,
And begin to taste some autonomy.
Ericas are another diverse group of plants found in the fynbos.
They have tiny leaves to help reduce water loss and grazing.
But other than that, are incredibly varied.
Wind-pollinated ericas have tiny flowers.
But not all ericas rely on the vagaries of the wind.
Of all the species in the Kogelberg
ericas have the most colorful floral displays
to attract birds and insects so they can be pollinated.
And it soon works.
A Southern double-collared sunbird is looking for nectar.
Ericas are not the only plants that are advertising for animal assistance.
Proteas -
South Africa's national flower.
These are some of the largest plant species in the Fynbos
with some species growing to the size of small trees.
Their showy flowers are an advertisement for pollinators.
And Cape sugarbirds can't resist the sweet nectar on offer.
Like sunbirds they too are important pollinators.
Visiting as many as 300 flowers a day,
they dip their heads into protea flowers from above and become dusted with pollen,
which they then transfer from plant to plant.
Sugarbirds are highly adapted to their diet
and can digest 99 percent of all the sugars found in the sweet nectar.
Smaller sunbirds also visit proteas
but often cheat the flowers as they are too small to become dusted in pollen as they feed.
The only reliable pollinators are sugarbirds.
And a smaller pollinator, who is also hard at work.
Cape honey bees are also drawn to the sugary nectar,
And while they are incidental pollinators of species such as this Waboom protea,
For some plants the relationship is critically important.
This plant is aptly named "pink-fingers" after its springtime floral display.
During spring when it bursts into flower
the bushes attract swarms of bees
who busily flit from flower to flower collecting pollen and nectar.
The bees are a marvel of engineering.
A small straw-like proboscis enables them to suck up the sweet nectar.
While electrostatically charged hairs on their bodies and legs
help them collect pollen.
They take the pollen and nectar back to their hive to feed larvae and produce their honey.
The main river running through the reserve is the Palmiet -
so named because of the dense mats of Palmiet reeds along its banks.
As the Palmiet winds down to the sea
it spreads out into a small shallow estuary,
which is perfect for Lesser flamingos.
By kneading the bottom with their feet they're stirring up their food.
They're filter feeders.
Their beaks strain the muddy soup removing small invertebrates.
They're most active in the morning
and once they've eaten their fill they gather together for safety.
And tuck their heads under their wings for a little shuteye.
The Kogelberg's floral wonders aren't only restricted to dry land,
but extend 700 feet into the ocean.
Upwelling along this coast brings cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface.
And this means there is plenty of food
so both plant and animal life are abundant.
Fed by sunlight, Giant kelp absorb all the nutrients they need from the water
and tower 30 feet above the reefs in places.
In stark contrast to the land above,
there's so much food available underwater,
the only problem most species have is finding somewhere to live.
Space is at a premium.
Recently conditions on these reefs have been changing
and no one is entirely sure why.
There's been an influx of one of the rocky reefs' most formidable predators.
Rock lobsters.
They are voracious.
Rock lobsters eat sea urchins
and the influx of these crustaceans is devastating for urchin populations.
This reduction in urchins is affecting another reef inhabitant -
Abalone.
These large limpet-like mollusks need urchins to survive,
because baby Abalone settle under urchins after spawning.
Without urchins, they don't settle,
And so populations are not renewed.
Abalone are a tasty delicacy and are heavily overfished for food.
This fishing pressure, compounded by the reduction in their breeding success,
means this large grazer is nearly extinct.
In the absence of Abalone, kelp is flourishing -
But it's a system out of kilter,
and nobody knows how these changes
will affect the long-term health of these bountiful reefs.
Where the mountains meet the sea
a family of Rock hyraxes known as "Dassies"
is thriving on the shrubby coastal vegetation.
This vegetation absorbs water from the ocean spray.
As such it is tough and hardy
and only a tough character like a Dassie can stomach its salty leaves.
Dassies are often seen sunning themselves
as this helps raise their internal body temperature.
They're one of only a few warm blooded mammals
capable of using the sun's heat to aid their metabolism.
Dassies are unusual animals and, despite looking like a rodent,
DNA analysis shows they're actually more closely related
to elephants.
They're rock specialists living on rocky outcrops from savanna
to the Fynbos and even the coast.
They're nimble.
Small stubby toes grip the rock.
And special secretions on their palms
increase friction for better grip on precarious rocky outcrops.
Along the coastal region of the reserve many seabirds, such as these White-breasted cormorants,
thrive on the rocky shores.
Oystercatchers also thrive here
hunting mussels and limpets,
prying the mollusks from the rocks with their razor sharp red bills.
Oystercatchers lay eggs in remarkably camouflaged nests on the sandy beaches.
Camouflage is important
with predators such as otters and Kelp gulls on the prowl.
If parents are disturbed they leave the eggs vulnerable,
relying on the eggs' camouflage to protect them.
Eggs hatch in roughly 6 weeks.
The precocious chicks are up and about within days.
They cannot fly as they are yet to fledge into their adult feathers,
so they have another trick to avoid hungry eyes.
Camouflage helps throughout their young lives
and chicks blend seamlessly into the background kelp wrack that comprises their home.
Young birds grow quickly
learning how to feed from their parents.
Tiny crustaceans called beach-hoppers occur in huge numbers on these shores.
And the young birds make the most of the feast on offer.
Nearby a colony of African penguins also makes their home in the reserve.
African penguins are the only penguin species that breeds on the continent.
This is one of only three breeding colonies on the mainland.
African penguins typically prefer offshore islands.
But during the early 1900s
humans destroyed their traditional homes
while harvesting seabird droppings called guano, which was used for fertilizer.
Millions of penguin eggs were also collected for the tables of Europe.
And commercial fishing stripped the surrounding oceans of sardines and anchovies,
the penguin's most important prey.
Historically there were an estimated two million breeding pairs in southern Africa.
Now fewer than 25,000 survive.
These birds are hanging on to survival.
The Kogelberg lies within the Cape Fold mountains
so named for the folded rock that is typical of the region.
The Cape Fold mountains were thrust up millions of years ago by tectonic forces
under the super-continent of Gondwana.
When Gondwana split up 150-odd million years ago,
these mountains remained as the southwestern border of the new African continent.
They are comprised of super hard sandstone quartzite rock,
which is resistant to erosion but produces nutrient-poor soils.
A tight-knit family of Klipspringers
feeds on the scrubby Fynbos vegetation high on the rocky slopes.
They're agile and leap effortlessly from rock to rock.
Specially cushioned hooves act as shock absorbers, increasing their grip.
Males have two short pointed horns,
which are used in territorial disputes with other males.
Sufficiently warmed, the Puffadder is finally ready to head out in search of a meal.
Puffadders almost never hunt actively for prey.
He's an ambush predator looking for a suitable spot to lie in wait.
Unlike most snakes, which move with accentuated, side-to-side movements,
Puffadders move almost in a straight line with a distinct caterpillar motion.
High in the valleys protected from frequent fires that consume the landscape
small patches of forest survive.
These fragments of Africa's mountain forest or "Afromontane" forest
are some of the last remnants in this region.
Access to sunlight drives the forest upwards
and Yellowwoods and Stinkwoods strive for the sunshine,
While ferns cover the shadowy forest floor.
In the shelter of the undergrowth, spiders carefully set their traps -
And geckos lurk on the tree trunks looking for insects.
The forests are fed by the streams at their feet.
The water in these streams is brown
because of the tannins that leach out of the Fynbos vegetation.
Frogs patrol the shallows, hunting insects.
While crabs scuttle across small sheltered pools looking for food.
Some isolated streams in the Kogelberg
contain crab species that occur nowhere else.
This Cape crag lizard is enjoying the sun.
He's the largest crag lizard in the region,
measuring 6 inches from snout to tail.
Like Puffadders, they're ambush predators
and they use elevated rocky vantage points to pounce on their invertebrate prey.
Smaller lizards are also targets.
While the Kogelberg doesn't have large numbers of big mammals
it does contain some surprisingly voracious predators,
but these are not your typical killers.
In a nearby seep a unique collection of plants waits in ambush.
All plants living in the nutrient-poor soils of the Kogelberg
are adapted to obtain valuable nutrients from the poor sandy soils.
While some legumes rely on underground partnerships with microbes
to help their roots absorb nitrogen and other food,
And others such as proteas
have specially designed micro-roots to ensure sufficient uptake,
These sundews have come up with an ingenious solution.
Their leaves glisten with sweet, sticky drops to attract insects,
but are in fact a death trap.
Insects landing on the sticky leaves get stuck in the goo.
The plant then digests the insect prey and absorbs its valuable nutrients.
Roridula, the largest carnivorous plants in the reserve,
have taken carnivory to a whole new level.
They can't digest the insects they catch themselves.
So they've entered into a partnership.
Bugs patrol the leaves and eat any insects caught by the plant.
They then defecate on to the leaves
allowing the plant to absorb the nutrients from this feces.
Plants receive as much as 70% of their nitrogen this way.
It's a unique relationship.
The bugs rely on the plants to catch their food
and the plant benefits from the bugs' digestive abilities.
Only two species of bugs occur on each Roridula species.
And they have a mutually essential relationship.
If either of these species disappears
the other will also vanish from the mountains forever.
One reason that the Kogelberg is so diverse is the large number
of plants that rely on Anoplolepis or Pugnacious ants to distribute seeds.
In the Fynbos shrub-land vegetation this is a critical relationship.
A scout finds the fallen restio seed.
Soon the whole team is roped in to retrieve the valuable prize.
The seed's white fatty region, called an eliasome, is food for the ants.
But it's not only the ants that benefit,
the plant benefits too.
By burying the seed underground in their nests,
the ants protect the seed from herbivores such as mice.
But while looking for the seeds and sweet nectar to eat,
mice also serve a different purpose.
Protea species are known for their tall showy flowers,
which they use to attract insect and bird pollinators.
But some species of proteas have flowers that grow close to the ground.
And these rely on mice to pollinate them.
More than 35 species of proteas rely on these unusual pollinators.
Mice nosing around the flowers looking for nectar get covered in pollen,
which they carry from flower to flower and plant to plant.
The ants not only protect protea seeds from mice
By burying them underground
they keep the seeds safe from the frequent fires that rage across Fynbos landscapes.
Ants don't move seeds far from parent plants.
Which means seedlings grow only in the immediate vicinity
restricting gene flow and isolating populations.
Over millions of years, isolated populations develop into new species
and this is one reason why diversity is so high.
The Puffadder has found an ideal spot.
He's well hidden and the rocks of the Kogelberg are busy with mice.
It's only a matter of time until something springs his deadly trap.
While some snakes lie in wait, others are active hunters.
In a nearby outcrop a Spotted House snake is stirring.
They are mainly nocturnal
but like the Puffadder he's feeling hunger pangs following a long cold winter,
and so he's started his search early this evening.
He's well adapted to his rocky existence.
A flattened head and body allows him to navigate the smallest cracks in search of prey.
He's hunting lizards and geckos.
But rock agamas such as this one are experts at hide and seek.
They're exquisitely camouflaged and blend into the rock.
This time it works; the spotted house snake has passed him by.
Unlike solitary hunters, like snakes,
baboons are gregarious and rely on each other to survive.
This mother is removing ticks and fleas from her baby.
Mothers are under pressure to get enough food for themselves
so they can provide enough milk for their young.
Societies are strictly regulated
and subordinates often lavish dominant females with attention to curry favor.
This helps build cohesion among the troop,
which gives this family a valuable edge in this challenging environment.
On the mountainous coast of the southwestern Cape,
plants and animals exist side by side in an unforgiving landscape.
This is one of the most diverse places in the world.
Incredibly rare plants
intersperse the carpet of species-rich Fynbos.
Offshore, rich waters bursting with food teem with life.
On both land and sea life here is both intricate,
and spectacular.
And there is nowhere else on earth quite like it.
This is the biological wonderland of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve.
(♪♪♪)