Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
This site comprises a system of over 320 pans on private land c.30 km east of Breyten. The primary area of pans runs from Tevrede se Pan (26°13’S 30°11’E) in the north to Burgerspan (26°28’S 30°10’E) in the south, and from Goedeverwachtingpan (26°16’S 30°07’E) in the west to Lake Banagher (26°21’S 30°23’E) in the east. The Chrissie system comprises a remarkable variety of pans. Reed pans are mostly permanent, usually retaining water throughout the year. They have a diverse flora, characterized by
Phragmites, which forms a dense extensive reedbed covering most of the pan basin. Sedge pans are semi-permanent, usually drying up during the winter and/or dry spells, when they are almost devoid of vegetation. Saline pans are characterized by their glaring white basins when dry and have extremely saline substrata and water. The basins of these pans usually lack vegetation.
There is considerable overlap in the common plants between the three pan-types. The pans, and their functioning, remain intact, despite existing in a matrix that consists almost exclusively of maize (80%), interspersed with small fragmented patches of natural grassland (20%).
See Box for key species. The Chrissie Pans support very large numbers (from a southern African perspective) of flamingos (
Phoenicopterus ruber and
P. minor). The system is probably also an important refuge for the small floating population of
Grus carunculatus remaining in Mpumalanga. Other species present in large numbers include
Balearica regulorum,
Charadrius pallidus and
Circus ranivorus. When inundated, these wetlands also support large numbers of waterbirds, with total numbers regularly exceeding 20,000 individuals. In addition to the aquatic birds, several dryland species use the extensive
Phragmites beds in the reedpans for roosting, including
Falco amurensis and
Hirundo rustica, which roost at the pans in flocks numbering thousands. The surrounding grassland-maize matrix occasionally supports
Geronticus calvus,
Falco naumanni,
Grus paradisea,
Neotis denhami,
Eupodotis senegalensis,
Tyto capensis,
Glareola nordmanni and
Circus maurus.
Non-bird biodiversity: The plant Odontelytrum abyssinicum is a highly localized and threatened pan specialist.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
A major threat to the pans comes from agricultural development. Many pans in crop farming regions are subject to contamination by pesticides and nutrient pollution by fertilizers. The closed-basin nature of pans exacerbates this problem, with toxic substances, including poisons that pose a threat to wildlife, concentrating in their basins. Ploughing, overgrazing and excessive trampling by livestock further damage shoreline vegetation, increase wind erosion, and lead to the siltation of pan basins. Opencast mines can totally destroy pans. Coal mines and associated power stations produce acid rain (less than pH 3), which dramatically affects the alkaline pans, reducing pH, interfering with pan functioning and modifying the vegetation and fauna inhabiting these systems. Power lines and telephone lines running close to pans are a major cause of mortality to waterbirds that occasionally fly into these structures.
Commercial afforestation around pans is a growing threat. Plantations cause increased levels of evapotranspiration, and decreased amounts of water draining into the pans, ultimately lowering the water-table. The effect of afforestation would be to reduce run-off from an effective 700 mm per year to 400 mm. Land acquisition to conserve this area is somewhat impractical, as the pan system is widely dispersed throughout agriculturally productive land. Similarly, few of the pans are ever flooded and functional at any one time, making acquisition of a portion of the system as a reserve inadequate.Appropriate management strategies, aimed at managing land under private ownership, are as important as land acquisition for formal nature reserves. Awareness programmes for land-owners and other interested and affected parties who affect these systems is urgently required. Legislation and its effective enforcement should be considered, so as to halt wanton environmental degradation of pans.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Chrissie Pans (South Africa). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/chrissie-pans-iba-south-africa on 22/11/2024.
