Umdloti protects its dunes

Umdloti dunes are growing back, thanks to active locals and a caring parks department.

Without dunes, coastal towns such as Umdloti are more vulnerable to high sea damage and losing their beach sand to the wind.

Having noticed the lack of dunes in the town, environmental UIP leader Terry Rens felt inspired by the amazing work that has been achieved with Umhlanga’s dunes and started a baby project in Umdloti about 18 months ago.

“Tracey Simkiss and I started a sub committee of the UIP and so, with Ethekwini and the guidance of ecologist Allister Starke, the dune rehab project was born,” said Rens.

They have been working hard to educate people about the importance of dunes and to help the dunes develop again.

“The dunes and their vegetation protect us, which is why we need to encourage their formation,” she said.

The parks department have brought truck loads upon truck loads of sand and compost mix to build up the dunes along the pavements and have planted about 3000 annual seedlings and about 150 aloes on the dunes.

“This project has helped to eradicate most of the walking on the dunes and we are so proud of the Umdloti area and how beautifully the plants have grown on the dunes over the past year,” said Verulam parks department supervisor, Rogers Govender.

The sand bags, which have been stacked all along Umdloti beach need to be covered in sand and plants, otherwise they will not work.

“UV rays degrade the bags, therefore if they are covered in sand and vegetation, they will be protected from the sun and will encourage biodiversity,” said Starke.

Starke explains that by putting mulch on the bags and covering it with some sand to keep it in place, the sand that gets blown away on the beach is trapped by the leaves and therefore starts collecting and building up once again.

This in turn creates little homes for plants to settle, such as the Beach Morning Glory or the Vygies, a popular remedy for blue bottle stings.

“It is important that people or their pets do not walk on the bags, as this building up process cannot happen when it is constantly trampled on. Like a garden path will stay barren, because people and their animals walk along it, so the bags will stay exposed,” he said.

“We would like to encourage the people of Umdloti to take pride in their dunes and to help protect and grow them,” she said.

“Thanks to the support from the Verulam parks department’s supervisor, Rogers Govender, and his guys Johannes Delport and Themba Sithole, we have gone from areas that were completely flat and barren, to dunes covered in plants,” said Rens.