GARDENS & LANDSCAPING
Gareth Griffiths
Gareth Griffiths
With climate change imminent and South Africa rapidly becoming a dry region with irregular rainfall, property owners must consider mitigation steps to adapt outdoor spaces to semi-desert-like environments. A recent visit to the Northern Cape inspired me and gave valuable insights for both homeowners and corporate landscapers.
As South Africa confronts the dual challenges of water scarcity and increasingly severe climate extremes, the lessons from the Northern Cape, particularly the Richtersveld, become of national significance. The Richtersveld is a distinctive‘ mountain desert’ region enclosed to the west and east within a large oxbow of the Orange River( The Great Gariep), approximately 50 km inland from the Atlantic Ocean at Alexander Bay, part of the arid and inhospitable Namib Desert.
The Richtersveld includes privately owned land, some of which forms part of a community conservancy, a provincial nature reserve, a well-known trans-frontier National Park, and one of UNESCO’ s newest designated World Heritage Sites.
The Richtersveld Community Conservancy also serves as the last refuge for the Nama people, who follow a transhumance lifestyle – seasonally migrating with their livestock from mountains to the river to sustainably utilise the ecosystem. It was in recognition of this fading way of life and the unique botanical diversity it helps preserve that the Conservancy was designated as the centre of this World Heritage Site.
Along the banks of the Orange River, the ingenuity of small growers, gardeners, and conservationists is quietly redefining what sustainability means in an arid environment. Their micro-oasis systems – combining efficient water use, local plant knowledge, soil restoration, and community effort – provide a model for adaptation that extends far beyond this remote desert landscape.
There is also high-impact alluvial mining activity, which to some extent poses both a threat and an opportunity to the environment and its people.
Living laboratories of resilience where crops and indigenous vegetation are grown
Along the banks of the great Gariep, I saw living examples of green resilience, where each shaded bed, drip line, and compost pit had become a tiny world of climate-smart practices.
If replicated and supported across other drought-prone regions, this approach could transform South Africa’ s response to an increasingly unpredictable climate— nurturing not only food security but also a renewed sense of stewardship for the land itself.
Shade cloth protection for the larger plants in open growing areas.
Richtersveld is a place where creativity and survival flourish side by side. It is also a location where the wisdom of the old, often the ancient Nama and San peoples, has been revitalised and applied in a stark landscape.
www. tobuild. co. za | summer 2025-26 107