East London Coast Nature Reserve

The East London Coast Nature Reserve covers an area of three thousand four hundred and twenty four hectares, and stretches from the Great Kei River in the north east, to the Tylomnqa river in the South West consisting of ten coastal reserves and two inland state forests. Moving from North East to South West, the ten reserves which form the East London Coast Nature Reserve are Cape Morgan, Double Mouth, Cape Henderson, Chintsa West, Kwelera, Nahoon, Cove Rock/ Gulu, Kidd's Beach, Kayser's Beach and Chalumna. These ten reserves represent 57% of the 250km coastline which lies between the two rivers. The State Forests, Umtiza Forest and Fort Pato Forest, are located inland approximately fourteen kilometers and twenty five kilometers north of East London along the northern banks of the Buffalo River.

The East London Coast Nature Reserve consists mainly of the combination of transitional coastal forest, valley thicket, eastern thorn bushveld, eastern dune thicket and coastal grassland.The reserve is home to a variety of interesting wildlife which includes leopard, blue duiker, the rare giant golden mole, tree dassies also known as Dendrohyrax arboreus, crowned eagles, the Knysna lourie, the narina trogon, and the elusive Cape parrots. Visitors to the East London Coast Reserve will also be delighted to view Southern Right Wales, which make their way up the Eastern Cape coast between July and September, and during the sardine run at the begginning of June.