We’re thrilled to share a remarkable conservation success story from the Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area (KRCA), one of the conservation sites managed by our Nature Care Fund team.

The “Erica verticillata”, also known as the “whorled heath”, a species classified as extinct in the wild, is making a comeback in this unique environment.

The Cape Flats Sand Fynbos, a critically endangered and highly transformed ecosystem, has found a haven at KRCA—one of the last remaining high-quality patches of this precious vegetation. Thanks to the concerted efforts of our Nature Care Fund team, biodiversity experts from the South African Biodiversity Institute, the City and CapeNature, reintroduction efforts in 2004 and 2008 have led to the first self propagation of this species in the wild.

Approximately 40 young plants were spotted in April this year, presumably in response to the carefully managed ecological burn in 2021.

Though still classified as ‘extinct in the wild’ by the IUCN, this thriving population at KRCA marks the beginning of the first of three critical generations needed to eventually reclassify the species as restored to the wild.

At Nature Connect, we’re committed to protecting and restoring ecosystems, celebrating each step forward in reversing species loss—one plant, one success story at a time.