STRUISBAAI-ELIM BIRDING ROUTE The Struisbaai-Elim road was
identified as an exciting birding route by Agulhas National
Park. It meanders for 35km along the very important Nuwejaars
River wetland system between the gravel road turn-off to Elim
from the tar road between Struisbaai and Bredasdorp to Elim
village itself. Wetlands are identified as the most important
life support system on earth. It has been estimated that over
half of our wetlands have been destroyed and lost mainly through
human activities. Those that remain are therefore regarded as
some of the most threatened natural habitats. Wetlands describe
a variety of ecosystems including rivers, springs, seeps and
mires in the upper-catchment head-waters, to midlands marshes,
pans and floodplains, to coastal lakes, mangrove swamps and
estuaries at the bottom of the basin. Any part of the landscape
where water accumulates for long enough and often enough to
influence the plants, animals and soils occurring in that area,
is thus regarded as a wetland. The