Nylsvley Nature Reserve

The Nyl River spreads out over a wide flat valley rather than running in a channel, and in a year of good rain the floodplain fills into a shallow sheet of water and grass that draws waterbirds in extraordinary numbers - some 370 species have been recorded, more than a hundred of them waterfowl, with breeding colonies of herons, egrets and rare crakes, and counts of more than 80,000 birds at peak flood. The reserve covers about forty square kilometres, and the only wild rice in South Africa grows here. It is a Ramsar site and one of the most studied ecosystems in South Africa. The catch is rainfall: in a dry year the floodplain is a grassy field with almost nothing on it, and the difference between a good season and a poor one is total. Hides and a viewing tower look over the water, and the reserve also holds bushveld with roan, tsessebe and giraffe. Early Boer travellers, seeing the flooded plain and reeds, thought they had reached the Nile, which is where the name comes from.

Highlights

• The flooding cycle - a plain that becomes a shallow lake in a good rain year and grass in a poor one.
• The bird numbers - some 370 species recorded, with breeding colonies in wet seasons.
• The hides - viewing points and a tower over the floodplain.
• The Nile mistake - travellers who thought the flooded reeds were the great river.

When to go

January to April, and only after good summer rain. A day. Check conditions before driving out.

Things to know

In a dry year there is almost nothing to see - this is entirely rainfall-dependent. Access roads become impassable when the plain is at its fullest, which is a real irony. Mosquitoes are heavy in the wet season. Facilities are basic.

Nearby

The Waterberg is west; Modimolle is the nearest town.

Key facts