Veld, ( Afrikaans: “field”) name given to various types of open country in Southern Africa that is used for pasturage and farmland. To most South African farmers today the “veld” refers to the land they work, much of which has long since ceased to be “natural.”
Various types of veld may be discerned, depending upon local characteristics such as elevation, cultivation, and climate. Thus, there is a high veld, a middle veld, a low veld, a bush veld, a thorn veld, and a grass veld. The boundary between these different varieties of veld is frequently vague, and all of them are usually referred to with the general term veld by the local inhabitants. For convenience, its major regions—Highveld, Middleveld, and Lowveld—are distinguished on the basis of elevation.
The Highveld comprises most of the high-plateau country of Southern Africa. Except in Lesotho, where it extends well above 8,200 feet (2,500 metres) and even above 11,000 feet (3,400 metres) in places, all of it lies between 4,000 and 6,000 feet (1,200 and 1,800 metres) above sea level. The South African part of the region is bounded to the east and south by the Great Escarpment, which consists of the Drakensberg and Cape ranges, and by the Lesotho Highlands. Its less clearly defined northern and western boundaries coincide roughly with the 4,000-foot contour. Most of it is underlain by sedimentary strata of the Karoo System (or Karoo Super Group), dating from about 345 to 190 million years ago, and to older pre-Karoo material. Among these are coal-bearing strata. These materials have been eroded over a long period of time to produce generally flat plains, dissected occasionally by deeply carved valleys and including relict mountains and scattered steep-sided hills called kopjes, or koppies. The Highveld plains are thought to have been created by pedimentation, in which the areas around resistant rock are eroded away, leaving mountains of low relief and kopjes. Large areas of the western part of the region are also covered by “pans,” which are shallow and ephemeral lakes, often with salty crusts; these are found especially in several provinces in South Africa.
In Zimbabwe the Highveld coincides roughly with the region lying on either side of the central watershed. Like the Highveld of South Africa, it has a remarkably even surface, broken only by kopjes and low ridges. Throughout the Highveld, soils tend to be thin, poor, and powdery and thus easily carried away by both wind and water erosion.
The Middleveld is the name given in South Africa to a vast and geologically complex region that lies in the region north of Pretoria, in the Northern Cape province, and in Namibia. Its boundaries are not as well defined as are those for the Highveld, but generally it lies at an altitude between 2,000 and 4,000 feet (600 and 1,200 metres) above sea level. In Zimbabwe to the northeast, the Middleveld also consists of the land lying roughly between 2,000 and 4,000 feet. Most of the Middleveld is underlain by Precambrian rocks that have been exposed by erosion. In northern South Africa it is underlain by the unique Bushveld complex, with its wealth of rare minerals. As is the case in the Highveld, the uniformity of the relief is broken by relict mountains and by kopjes. Pans are numerous, especially in the western areas. Middleveld soils are generally thin and poor.
The Lowveld is the name given to two areas that lie at an elevation of between 500 and 2,000 feet (150 and 600 metres) above sea level. One area is in the South African provinces of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Swaziland, and the other is in southeastern Zimbabwe. Both are underlain largely by the soft sediments and basaltic lavas of the Karoo System and by loose gravels. They have been extensively intruded by granites. Other resistant metamorphic rocks also occur; these commonly appear as low ridges or what seem to be archipelagoes of island mountains. The higher western margins of both areas testify to the degree of erosion resulting from the flow of rivers running east or southeast.
The soils of the Lowveld are more varied than those of the other veld regions. Along their higher and wetter western sides, they tend to be deep, leached (percolated by water), acidic, porous, and well-drained. In the lower-lying and drier central and eastern portions, they tend to be shallow, but they are more fertile and retain moisture better.
The climate of the veld is highly variable, but its general pattern is mild winters from May to September and hot or very hot summers from November to March, with moderate or considerable variations in daily temperatures and abundant sunshine. Precipitation mostly occurs in the summer months in the form of high-energy thunderstorms.
Over most of the South African Highveld, the average annual rainfall is between 15 and 30 inches (380 and 760 mm), decreasing to about 10 inches (250 mm) near the western border and increasing to nearly 40 inches (1,000 mm) in some parts of the Lesotho Highlands; the South African Lowveld generally receives more precipitation than the Highveld. Temperature is closely related to elevation. In general, the mean July (winter) temperatures range between 45 °F (7 °C) in the Lesotho Highlands and 60 °F (16 °C) in the Lowveld. January (summer) temperatures range between 65 °F (18 °C) and 80 °F (27 °C).
In Zimbabwe the precipitation averages around 30 to 35 inches (760 to 900 mm) on the Highveld, dropping to less than 15 inches in the lowest areas of the Lowveld. Temperatures are slightly higher than in South Africa.
Over the entire veld, seasonal and annual average rainfall variations of up to 40 percent are common. Damaging drought afflicts at least half the area about once every three or four years. Everywhere the average number of hours of annual sunshine varies from 60 to 80 percent of the total amount possible.
The veld regions support an enormous variety of natural vegetation. No particular species is ubiquitous, and many are highly localized. Grassveld is the characteristic vegetation of the South African Highveld, dominated by species of red grass. Where the red grass grows on well-drained, fertile soils subject to comparatively light rainfall, it tends to be sweeter (and is consequently called sweetveld) than elsewhere, where it is commonly called sourveld. Sweetvelds are more palatable to livestock than sourvelds, the latter being usable as fodder only in winter.
The drier South African Middleveld favours both red grass and drought-resistant species of grasses. These grasses are less luxuriant and the ground cover less complete than those of the Highveld. As the aridity increases to the west and north, the cover becomes sparser, and grassveld gradually loses ground to thornveld (consisting of such types as thorny acacias and aloes), dwarf, drought-resistant bushes, and desert scrub.
In Zimbabwe the Highveld and Middleveld consist of open woodland savanna dominated by leguminous, fire-resistant trees of the Brachystegia genus. Tall perennial grasses and flowering herbs, which readily catch fire during the dry season, occupy most of the open ground.
The Lowveld everywhere supports a parklike plant cover. In the higher areas the characteristic trees are acacia and marula, the latter bearing an intoxicating plumlike fruit. The open ground is dominated by red grass. In the lower areas, such as the Sabi and Limpopo river valleys, tufted finger grasses, euphorbias, and other succulents replace red grass; the acacias increase in number; and the mopane tree, the baobab, and the tall fan palm occur.
Mass slaughter, trophy hunting, and the encroachments of farmers and pastoralists have thinned out every major species of mammal and reptile and several species of birds in the veld. The South African and Zimbabwean governments have, however, set aside vast tracts of veld as wildlife reserves. Wildlife conservation efforts in Southern Africa have further been aided by the creation of transfrontier parks, which link nature reserves and parks in neighbouring countries to create large, international conservation areas that protect biodiversity and allow a wider range of movement for migratory animal populations. One such park is the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which links Kruger National Park in South Africa with Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe. The lion, leopard, cheetah, giraffe, elephant, hippopotamus, oryx, kudu, eland, sable antelope, and roan antelope survive only in or near such protected areas. The smaller mammals, most of the reptiles, and almost all of the birds—except the ostrich, which has virtually been eliminated from the veld—are still found in the wild.
The people and economy
The veld is believed to be one of the world’s oldest regions inhabited by humans and their hominid forebears. Fossil evidence indicates that members of the hominid genus Australopithecus occupied the Highveld some three million years ago and that various Stone Age peoples lived there hundreds of thousands of years ago. More recently, the San of the Kalahari inhabited parts of the grassveld until driven from it by Bantu-speaking peoples and the Boers. The generally open character, easy gradients, abundant supply of food, and—in the valleys—water of the Highveld have long attracted migrants as well as settlers. It provided the major routes followed by the Bantu-speaking peoples during their recurrent southward migrations; and in the 1830s the Voortrekkers (pioneer Boer farmers), who moved northward from Cape Colony to escape the power of the British, made the Highveld their home as well as their highway.
Until the Voortrekker era the veld remained largely in a natural state. The San, never very populous, lived by hunting and gathering. The animal herding and crop raising done by the Bantu-speaking peoples were solely for subsistence. While much of the veld, especially in Zimbabwe, retains its natural cover—modified by the selective grazing habits of oxen, cattle, and other domesticated animals—millions of acres have been brought under the plow. Most of South Africa’s corn (maize) crop is now grown on the grassveld in the Transvaal region and Free State. Most of the Zimbabwean corn crop and almost all of its tobacco crop are grown on the Highveld. The major population centres of these two countries and of Botswana, as well as their major commercial and industrial activities, are also located on the Highveld, which, by virtue of terrain, climate, and mineral and ecological endowment, forms one of the areas most suitable for settlement on the African continent.
Study and exploration
Modern study of the veld has centred on its economic, ecological, and archaeological assets. In the economic area the emphasis has been on conservation and management of ecosystems, the topics including general geography, vegetation, soils, ecology, geology, and geomorphology. One major focus of investigation has been determining the nutritional potential of various natural vegetation forms in terms of their use in livestock raising and wildlife management.
The discovery of australopithecine fossils on the South African Highveld in the first half of the 20th century sparked great anthropological interest in the region. Since then it has become one of the major centres of hominid exploration and research, and many specimens—including those of other hominid species—have been recovered. In addition, the remains of Stone Age cultures have been found on both the Zimbabwean and the South African velds, and thousands of San rock engravings on the kopjes of the Highveld in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, and Botswana are known.