Land meets sea at Robberg Nature Reserve, South Africa

The Robberg Peninsula juts into the Indian Ocean in South Africa's ruggedly scenic Western Cape province. The entire peninsula is a nature reserve, protecting rare and wonderful wildlife along with a landscape whose origins stretch far back in time. How far? Some rocks in the Robberg Nature Reserve are said to be roughly 120 million years old, dating to when the supercontinent Gondwana broke apart. Evidence of Stone Age settlements were discovered in some of the peninsula's caves, so people have lived in the area for many thousands of years.

In the 1990s, the park's protections were extended from land to sea—the Robberg Marine Protected Area encompasses portions of the peninsula's rocky shores, extending to ocean reefs teeming with life, and then out to a portion of the open ocean.