Divided by mountains, there is a thriving desert on South Africa’s Western Cape where bushy, sandy plains belie beautiful, botanical treasures. This unassuming landscape is the world’s only arid plant hotspot—and home to a third of all succulent plant species in the world.
Part of the region’s Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, the area of land falling under the “rain shadow” of the Warmwaterberg mountains, supports two separate biomes: Fynbos and Succulent Karoo. Both are rich with life, the reserve explains, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth.
