Saxonwold, Parkwood and Parkview residents united for Zoo Lake’s last clean-up for the year on November 29, which was organised by the Zoo Lake Users’ Committee.

The committee’s chair, Tracy Davies, explained that this clean-up was special.

“28 trees were planted today. These trees were the last of the 121 trees we planted this year as part of the lake and Johannesburg Zoo’s birthday.”

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The chair highlighted that 14 trees were donated by Joburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ). “The other 14 were donated and sponsored by individuals for different reasons. Some were people who were being honoured.”

Davies added that the tree planting was the idea of a parent from Jan Celliers Laerskool en Preprimêr, Peter van Vuuren. He explained that the idea to plant trees was born from his planting an olive tree as a young boy.

“The plan was to give Grade 1, 2, 3 and 4 learners an opportunity to plant trees. I’m hoping that every single child in the school will get the opportunity to plant a tree before they go on to high school.”
Van Vuureen added that the beautiful thing about planting a tree was its slow growth process.

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He noted, “You don’t get immediate gratification from planting a tree. It’s helping people understand that you need to invest in your community, in your environment, which is a slow process which bears fruit that might be seen in 10 or 20 years from now.”

Davies added that the committee has a sponsor that maintains the park, Fibre Circle.

“Fibre Circle gifted us with a selfie frame at the park. They pay for the recycling bins as well as for a sorter who separates litter before it is recycled, and when the goods are recycled, that money is pumped back into the committee.”

The Johannesburg Zoo’s executive manager, Louise Gordon, was also in attendance with a team that looks after herbivores and asked the community to donate branches they don’t need to the zoo for the animals to browse.

Community members interested in donating the tree branches and want to find out more information are urged to contact the zoo at: +27 (0)11 646-2000.

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