Come along and meet an alien

PACK a picnic or a braai and come along to the Ivungu River Reserve to meet an alien or two on the Monday, June 16 public holiday.

The Ivungu Conservancy is a voluntary organisation that takes care of this urban reserve, spread out beneath the trees along the banks of the Ivungu River in Uvongo. Members want to introduce their little green gem to more South Coast people so they are hosting this holiday picnic.

Meet at 10am and join the short walk along the fascinating trail that runs alongside the river and into the forested part of the reserve. While on the walk, conservancy members will introduce you to some of the aliens – the invasive alien weeds that are always such a problem within the reserve. A great deal of energy and money goes into the control of these troublesome weeds.

If you like you can bring along some gardening gloves and help tackle the problem by pulling out a few of the aliens after they have been identified. There is a nice patch of stubborn sword fern that would be an ideal alien eradication starting point.

Make sure you bring your binoculars. The reserve is one of the South Coast’s birding hotspots and is very popular with members of Gauteng birding clubs when they visit this area. The finfoot, which lucky birders might spot, is becoming something of a celebrity among the visitors.

You should also bring chairs or a picnic rug, some liquid refreshments and a picnic lunch or a portable braai and braai meat. Children would love it if you turned the picnic into a family outing. School or scout groups are welcome to make the conservancy picnic into an organised outing for their members. Dogs on leashes are allowed.