FUNDUDZI,A UNIQUE,SACRED AND UNKNOWN SOUTH AFRICAN LAKE

Summary

Lake Fundudzi is a unique, small inland lake in the north eastern region of South Africa, formed by a landslide. The considerable sedimentation of its basin indicates an age in the order of 10 000s of years. It forms the focus of a rich heritage of ceremonial rituals and myths amongst the local Vhavenda population, but has not enjoyed the protection it deserves and serious impacts have been made by human transformation of the catchment, over-utilization of natural resources, forestry, water abstraction and degradation of the rivers. Additionally, the present fish community is not natural as all larger fish species seem to have been introduced. Some limnological information on this lake has been sporadically collected over a period of 60 years. It indicates conductivities ranging between 2,8 ?18,8 μ S m^?1 neutral to acid waters and oxygen stratification near the bottom during winter. Zooplankton was characterised by small copepods and rotifers. The lake is presently threatened by an increased anthropogenic sedimentation rate. It deserves national and international conservation status and can become a valuable ethno- and eco-tourist attraction provided proper management and conservation are applied. Data are insufficient for management, and a research programme focusing on hydrology and limnology should be initiated.