Alice Glockner Nature Reserve

About Alice Glockner Nature Reserve

Deep in the heart of the South African province of Gauteng, the Alice Glockner Nature Reserve offers visitors a unique experience of the untouched splendour that defines so much of the continent’s landscape.

Did you know? The floral wealth of Alice Glockner is testified to by its complex grassland vegetation, and its supporting no fewer than 16 recorded plants that have significant medicinal value.

Gauteng is the smallest, but wealthiest and most densely populated of the provinces. It is a popular base from which millions of tourists begin their special South African experience. This is, in part, thanks to its being the home of the OR Tambo International Airport. This hubbub makes natural areas, like the Alice Glockner Nature Reserve, all the more precious.

This is a small reserve by comparison to surrounding ones, at a mere 168 hectares. However, these borders are home to an impressive variety of plant and animal species, not least of which is the Heidelberg Copper Butterfly, which is both rare and threatened. Interestingly, this butterfly needs a particular breed of ant in order to survive, and this ant is also found in this reserve, as is the butterfly’s host plant (the Clutia pulchell).

There are plenty of resident animals too. These include dassies (rock rabbits), porcupines, black-backed jackals, aardvarks, mongooses, meerkats and more. In addition, there are more than 55 recorded bird species, and others just waiting to be spotted by avid bird watchers or hikers that are traversing the reserve at their own pace.

Those with an interest in the history and heritage of the region will, no doubt, enjoy exploring the old mines and other ruins that are located here.

The Alice Glockner Nature Reserve is situated six kilometres from the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, close to Heidelberg. This town is idyllically nestled at the foot of the Suikerbosrand Mountains and conveniently perched between the epicentres of Johannesburg in Gauteng and Durban in KwaZulu-Natal.