page_title: Welkom
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Welkom / Geography / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Flamingos over Lakeview, Welkom Other information Nil
context_page_description: Welkom is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about 140 kilometres northeast of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The city's Sotho name, Matjhabeng means 'where nations meet', derived from the migrant labour system, where people of various countries such as Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique etc. met to work in the mines of the gold fields.
  A settlement was laid out on a farm named "Welkom" after gold was discovered in the region, and it was officially proclaimed a town in 1948. The town became a municipality in 1961. It now falls in the Matjhabeng Municipality, part of the Lejweleputswa District. Welkom was officially declared a city on 14 February 1968.
context_section_description: Welkom is situated on two vegetation units, the Western Free State Clay Grassland and Vaal-Vet Sandy Grassland, these are differentiated by soil types, rainfall and frost. The dominant grass species are Hyparrhenia hirta, Themeda triandra, Sporobolus pyramidalis, Eragrostis sp, Aristida sp, and other grasses and herbs. Trees and shrubs are infrequent due to heavy frost in the winter months.
  The grasslands surrounding Welkom also include small mammal communities of yellow mongoose, ground squirrel, Cape porcupine, African mole-rat, pouched mouse, large-eared mouse, four-stripe grass mouse, and multimammate mouse. The De Rust Private Nature Reserve is situated about 25 km from Welkom on the Kroonstad road and is registered with the Free State Department of Nature Conservation.
caption: Flamingos over Lakeview
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