South Africa Issues a "Waterberg Biosphere Reserve" Coin Series

As reported by the official portal of the regulator, the South African Reserve Bank issued a series of 4 "Waterberg Biosphere Reserve" silver coins. The Reserve is located in Waterberg, Limpopo Province (South Africa), and since 2001 it has been included in the world network of biosphere reserves - specially protected natural territories.

The total area of the biosphere reserve is 4,145.71 km². It is based on the Waterberg mountain range. The elevation ranges from 830 to 2085 meters above the sea level. The reserve includes low ridges with poor soils. Waterberg is a water reservoir in that arid region. Here a variety of studies are carried out, including monitoring of weather phenomena, the study of the Lapalala and Mokolo rivers, monitoring of the numbers of animals, insects, fish and birds.

Coins dedicated to various South African reserves have been issued in the country since 2015. In 2017, a series of 4 coins dedicated to the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve were minted.The Waterberg Biosphere Reserve series includes 4 coins as well: a “White-backed Night Heron” 10-rand coin; a “Yellow-throated Sandgrouse” 10-rand coin; a "Crinum Graminicola" 5-rand coin; a “Tritonia” 5-rand coin.

The obverse of all coins and their overall characteristics are the same. The circulation is 1000 copies. At the same time, separately, a set of the coins in souvenir packaging was minted in 400 copies. For information: the national currency of the South African Republic and the common currency of the Multilateral Currency Agreement countries, which, in addition to South Africa, includes Namibia and Lesotho, is rand. One rand is approximately 4.65 Russian rubles.

Photo: http://oncoins.net/