Exploring Fynbos – Plants, Animals, Interactions by Margo Branch (published by Struik Nature) seems to be aimed at slightly older children (tweens, perhaps, or young teenagers), and it’s a fine introduction to the amazing lives that live themselves out in the unique and fascinating Cape Floral Kingdom.

After an introduction to the fynbos (which covers 80% of the region), the renosterveld, the strandveld, the succulent Karoo, the subtropical thickets and the Afromontane forests that make up the biome, Ms. Branch explores every – um – branch of the amazing biodiversity of the tiny coastal region that stretches along the Southern Tip from Niewoudtville in the west to  Port Elizabeth in the east.

“Nowhere else in the world are so many species of plants [found] in such a small area,” she writes in her introduction – but did you know that the fynbos also supports all kinds of birds, animals, and creepy-crawlies?

Naturally you did – but here’s a guide to exploring them, and one that includes practical tips on things like looking out for “the yellow orb-web spider and the grey bark spider that weave their beautiful webs between the restios. Have they caught anything in their webs?”

This is a very visual book, with bright, clear illustrations that I found instantly appealing – especially since they don’t have that depressing, washed-out feeling that so many watercolourists seem to prefer.

The text is short and to the point, and should provide just enough information to keep those constantly moving young minds from getting bored.

Matterafact it’s the kind of information that harried adults who’re interested – but don’t have the time to read – could enjoy, too.

I can imagine dipping into it by the fire on a drippy winter’s day in a guest house somewhere in the Cedarberg, say, or in Struisbaai or Agulhas.

Buy it here.