Blesbok Hut
The place
Blesbok Hut in Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, Heidelberg/Nigel area (Gauteng, South Africa), at 1,770 m elevation, on the Witwatersrand plateau. Part of a continuous South Africa cluster, batches 338-339 (3 entries). A rustic Gauteng provincial nature-reserve cabin ("Blesbok" = Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi, an antelope endemic to the South African highveld, hunted to near-extinction in colonial times, down to 200,000 individuals surviving on private conservation farms) and within Suikerbosrand (33,000 ha, reintroduction of eland, blesbok, gemsbok, and oryx from the 1960s onward on former eroded farmland), an area of South African highveld grassland (2,000-2,400 m plateau), and Sotho-Tswana heritage (Basotho Bantu peoples of Lesotho, Sesotho language, 5 million speakers).
The setting
Suikerbosrand NR, Heidelberg/Nigel, Gauteng, South Africa, 1,770 m, Witwatersrand, continuous cluster batches 338-339, 3 entries, Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi endemic highveld hunted near extinction 1900s 200,000 private farms reintroduction 1960s, grassland 2,000-2,400 m, Sotho-Tswana Basotho Sesotho 5 million.
