Neil MacGregor, a farmer from Nieuwoudtville, recently sold his 6 300ha farm Glenlyon to be used as a national botanical garden.
The farm on the Bokkeveld Plateau contains large natural patches of fynbos, succulent Karoo vegetation and Renosterveld, which is currently under severe threat because it grows on low-lying areas where most agricultural and urban developments take place. The region is also world renowned for its incredible diversity and density of bulbs and is often referred to as the bulb capital of the world. Glenlyon has been in MacGregor’s family for four generations and he has farmed there for the past 49 years. MacGregor has been a nature lover all his life and has been involved in numerous conservation and conservation research projects.
He was a member of the Northern Cape Parks Board from 1994 to 1998 and was involved in the purchase of the Namaqua Park. A lot of conservation-related research has also been conducted on the farm. he 71- year-old sheep farmer received various offers for the farm, which has a good production capacity. However, as MacGregor explained, “None of my four children want to farm and most of them have left the country. We therefore agreed that it would be best to sell the farm for conservation.” MacGregor tried to farm with sheep in balance with nature, having up to 3 500 Merinos during prime production times. “We never killed jackal or caracal on the farm because I believe that you just increase your problems by doing this,” he explained. He said he wished farmers were more ecologically sensitive, as otherwise there would soon be no more natural habitat left. MacGregor pointed out that the South African National Biodiversity Institute ()Sanbi)), which will manage the farm in the future, will not allow sheep but will probably introduce game later. Sanbi approached MacGregor two years ago about buying the farm. purchase was eventually made possible through generous funding from the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Conservation International through the Global Fund, and the Leslie Hill Succulent Karoo Trust through the World Wide Fund for Nature. Sanbi will focus on promoting long-term ecological research, conservation, nature-based tourism and education relating to the region’s biodiversity, working closely with local and regional stakeholders, bioregional programmes, conservation agencies, universities and museums. – Glenneis Erasmus
