The Wilds is the blueprint for future parks

The Rotary Club has received some valuable insight on how to convert parks and outdoor spaces to resemble tranquillity of the Wilds.

The Rotary Club of Johannesburg recently hosted James Delaney, international contemporary artist, in an online discussion on how he got involved with the Wilds Municipal Nature Reserve. With the hopes of learning how to transform outdoor spaces into ones that resemble the peace and tranquillity of the Wilds, Delaney virtually shared the story of how he got involved at the park – and it all started when he moved to Killarney.

Delaney described it as an ‘overgrown wall of green jungle’ which many people have been afraid to visit due to allegations of crime in the past. Desperately needing a space to walk his dog, he put his fear to the side and entered the Wilds to find a very different reality. “What I found was a tranquil place. No vagrants or homeless people living there, just a few visitors and a team mowing the lawns and swiping the pathways,” he said.
He continued to explore the Wilds and soon after, his passion for trees made him return with garden clippers to try do a bit of maintenance work himself, trimming, pruning and giving attention to anything that needed it.

Delaney would go on to partner with Thulani Nkomo and various other volunteers to host clean-up and maintenance projects while discovering all the hidden secrets of the Wilds. The improvements they saw over the seasons encouraged them to continue their work until the idea to add art sculptures to the space came about, added to the rising number of visitors at the park. As it stands, over 100 sculptures of owls and other animals are now present at the park and is visited by many from Johannesburg and those visiting the city.

The Wilds Municipal Nature Reserve was donated to the City of Johannesburg in the mid-1920s through the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company. According to Rotary Club President Grace Van Zyl, the club was quite instrumental in the space being given to the City and turned into a haven of natural beauty and peace. She explained, “In our very early formative years Rotarian from this club, who was a horticulturist, helped facilitate the whole process of handing over the park to the City with the intentions of keeping it as a space for indigenous South African plants.”

The Rotary Club has once again committed themselves to help create peaceful and enjoyable experiences at public parks across Johannesburg, as Delaney has done with the Wilds.

She explained, “We have collaborated with lots of artists from Johannesburg to try do what James has done at many other parks. We hope our conversations and relationship with him will help led the way forward to do this.”

Watch the full conversation with James Delaney and the Rotary Club of Johannesburg here: https://www.facebook.com/RCoJHB/videos/729937177551860/