The Seringveld is part of the southernmost tip of the Waterberg geology and flora and is characterised by deep sandy soils, which support specialised plant and animal communities.

Underground trees, known as pyrogenic geoxylic suffrutices, contribute to an extremely stable and unique ecosystem. These underground trees are an important characteristic of the Seringveld, as the top layer of soil accommodates a vast network of underground ‘forests’. In the Seringveld, it is not uncommon for the subterranean bio-mass (i.e. the total mass of all vegetation below ground level per hectare) to be more than the above-ground level bio-mass per hectare!

Prof. Braam van Wyk, plant taxonomist from the University of Pretoria explains pyrogenic geoxylic suffrutices. "It is a very peculiar growth form that is associated with our grasslands, and it is very much a type of growth form in Africa. It is not found in significant numbers anywhere else in the world, except perhaps to a limited degree in South America. It is a growth form where you get plants, woody plants that can be compared to underground trees, and all that you see are these green twigs which can be compared with a canopy of the tree.
And this is probably one plant sitting here, or maybe even this whole area may be one plant, and it’s the canopy that just sticks out, the tips of the branches above ground. These tips may burn down every year, but the rest of the tree stays untouched underground. Why theyhave adopted this strategy… it is a very interesting challenge to come up with reasons. Fire, frost, a shallow water table and grazing have all been considered. There are lots of interesting things we can say about the reasons why plants have adopted this strategy and why it mainly evolved in Africa. They are called clones, and are essentially immortal; nothing can kill them, except for habitat destruction. Grazers can not kill them, fire can not kill them and they are drought resistant. They grow extremely slowly, and if you look at the diameter of some of these clones, they must be the oldest inhabitants of our grasslands. I would say easily more than a thousand years for many of these clones since the first seed arrived for that particular species. But I would not be surprised if some of them are one day shown to be perhaps more than 10 000 years old, amongst the oldest plants in the world, much older than any tree that you are going to see. They are very peculiar plants and we have quite a number of these species in our grasslands."

A specialised faunistic component of animals, reptiles, amphibians and insects live underground in the deep sands of the Seringveld. The Seringveld, which lies in the upper catchment of the important Crocodile River system, makes an important contribution to the hydrology of the catchment area. The deep soil profiles, with their associated vegetation, act like a regional sponge and have a massive water storage capacity that benefits the total water flow regime of a region through slow release of water over longer time periods.

The Seringveld has many wetlands. Wetlands benefit all wildlife and human communities down-stream because of natural flood control effects and the availability of moisture over longer time periods. The underground trees stabilize the soil, greatly limiting soil erosion.

The Seringveld is on the transition from the lower lying, warmer bushveld or savannah to the grasslands of the higher lying relatively cooler Highveld, and such transition or ecotone regions are complex and dynamic, and are characterised by the presence of plants with a high degree of evolutionary activity.
Ecotone areas are therefore important in the enabling of biomes to adapt to change. With regard to climate change, increases in ambient temperatures in the Waterberg region may cause a shift in the typical Waterberg plant life (and associated fauna) to cooler areas towards the south.

The Seringveld could be one of the last vestiges that could act as a replacement or substitute region where this specific plant life may continue to exist despite global warming.
The wild seringa or wildesering, (Burkea africana), after which the area is named, is one of the most obvious indicators of the sourish vegetation types on sandy soils. Other typical tree species include the Transvaal beech wood or boekenhout (Faurea saligna) and peeling plane or lekkerbreek (Ochna pulchra). The Seringveld is also home to both the silver and green variants of the silver clusterleaf or vaalboom (Terminalia sericea).
The simplistic view of this area as sourveldt with a low grazing capacity does not do justice to the delicate balance that exists beneath the soil surface: Unique and interesting relationships exist between the plants and a wide variety of insects. These relationships have however not yet been studied.
This complexity and our lack of understanding of it is never more clearly illustrated than with the fact that it is not yet possible to cultivate a fully grown wild seringa from seed, because the seedlings remain small and die with time. This indicates a deficiency of some as-yet- unknown factor or symbiosis, which is provided in the natural situation.

It is believed that so-called rehabilitation of disturbed land in the true sense of the word of the Seringveld is not possible due to the existence of the numerous clonal underground trees. These plants represent genotypes that have been selected for this specific habitat over many thousands of years. It is seriously doubted if damaged areas (such as at sand mining sites) would be colonised soon (even within several decades or perhaps centuries), especially by seed (which is formed in limited quantities in the Seringveld), since these underground trees have to a great extent lost the ability to propagate through seed.

The fauna of the Seringveld is rich and varied, even if already severely disturbed by human activity. Large mammals such as kudu, ribbok, duiker, steenbok, warthog, porcupine, jackal, brown hyena, caracal, otter, genet, baboon, vervet monkey and bush pig are still present.
Several sightings of leopard have been reported as well as isolated sightings of civets.

The Seringveld sandveldt is also the traditional habitat of the aardvark. There have been a few sightings recently but it is uncertain to what extent they still exist in this region. The Seringveld is also the habitat of the unique and extremely rare underground aardvark cucumber (Cucumus humifructus), which lives in symbiosis with the aardvarks.
The Seringveld has a high concentration of red data bird, insects, invertebrate and animal and plant species listed in one single area and biome. Rock python (Afr. luislange) and giant bullfrog (brulpadda’s) pyxicephalus adspersus) are seen regularly in our region. Challenges

The Seringveld Conservancy is blessed with many fountains and several spruits originate close to these fountains. These include the 2 branches of the Boekenhout Spruit, the Vis Spruit and the Krokodil Spruit, all of which are unpolluted and relatively undisturbed near their origins. Unfortunately, unchecked sand mining have disturbed and polluted both the Boekenhout Spruit and the Krokodil Spruit further down their courses. In the water-scarce South Africa, it is of utmost importance to protect water sources such as these. Unchecked urbanisation and development in the wetlands feeding these fountains are real and serious threats to Seringveld’s existence.
Habitat destruction and fragmentation of areas with good bio-diversity become an ever- increasing problem and mainly occurs, amongst other things due to roads, subdivisions and development. In the past, unchecked sand mining undoubtedly contributed by far the most towards severe fragmentation. High intensity animal production, such as cattle feedlots, together with insensitive development, include some of the many challenges which threaten the Seringveld’s unique bio-diversity.

It is important to create corridors or connective refugia of continuous green zones wherein natural wildlife (fauna and flora) can exist, and more importantly, can pass through. Such continuous migration of fauna and flora is critical for the continued existence of fauna and flora, not only to find suitable habitat to survive in by being able to migrate, but also to minimize in-breeding. Connective refugia have a much greater chance of absorbing negative impacts and a much greater resilience against traumatic disturbance like pollution or habitat destruction, since their inherent buffering abilities allow nature to repair the damaged areas by itself when compared with unconnected regions.
The vast destruction caused by illegal and irresponsible legal sand mining over many decades has destroyed a significant part of these refugia, in some cases almost forever in terms of human life spans.
Landowners and residents in the Seringveld with few exceptions have established themselves in the area specifically with a ‘sense of place’ in mind to experience the peace and tranquillity and bushveld setting away from the hustle and bustle of everyday city life.

Ecotourism remains an answer to the preservation of the region’s exceptional biodiversity.
Ecotourism, as opposed to sand mining, intensive animal production and insensitive development, is a viable solution because if operated with sensitivity and responsibly, has little negative side-effects, is sustainable and has a much greater capacity to create long- term employment and to alleviate poverty. The Seringveld Conservancy, situated within the 240,000 hectare geo-spatial tourism destination Dinokeng, - which borders both Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces and is resplendent with natural, cultural and historical attractions - was established close to the metropolitan areas of Johannesburg, Pretoria and the East Rand to promote economic growth and social upliftment, thereby relieving the burden of poverty, particularly for the historically disadvantaged communities living in the area.