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Swartkops is located in the Western region of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Swartkops Estuary an Important Bird Area, with over 10 000 water birds in summer and is one of the “must see” birding venues. The river is approximately 134 km long with a catchment area of 1 303 sq. km. Agriculture accounted for approximately 14% of the land-cover in the Swartkops catchment. This consisted mainly of temporary commercial dry land agriculture, temporary commercial irrigated agriculture, commercial forestry, and improved grasslands. Less than 1% of the catchment was degraded bush land while approximately 77% was natural, mostly shrub land and bush land with some wetlands and water bodies also present. Urban development accounted for approximately 9% of the catchment land-cover. This was mostly residential, commercial and industrial development associated with the coastal city of Port Elizabeth and the towns of Despatch and Uitenage further inland. |
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