IF you are from out of town and you know about the Ivungu River Reserve, chances are you are a member of the twitching fraternity.
This small urban beauty spot is situated on the banks of the Ivungu River, just upstream from the waterfall formed by the river dropping over the cliffs into the Uvongo Beach lagoon. Walking trails are set out beneath the lush riverine forest on the south bank of the river, giving birders and walkers access to some excellent birding and tree hugging. The entrance to the walking trails is just upstream from Striders Athletics Club clubhouse in the town of Uvongo.
The African finfoot is perhaps the best known avian resident.
Its presence there has lured many a visiting birder into the reserve – and has encouraged the birding fraternity to give this lesser known natural gem the attention it deserves. More by word of mouth than anything else, Ivungu River Reserve is becoming quite a popular birding destination among our upcountry visitors and it is has earned a place on the Southern KwaZulu-Natal Birding Route.
Other birds you are likely to see there include the African black duck, the purple-crested and Knysna turaco, maybe a crowned eagle or fish eagle, the yellow-bellied greenbul, an assortment of sunbirds and, if you are lucky, a spotted ground-thrush or a narina trogon. And some birders claim to have heard the elusive buff-spotted flufftail there.
Uvongo, the name of the beach and the surrounding town, is a corruption of Ivungu, bestowed upon the river by the Zulu people. It is an onomatopoeic word, describing the noise of the waterfall.
Bill and I have had a long and affectionate relationship with the river and its charming surrounds.
Long ago, before our Lower South Coast towns were amalgamated into one big Hibiscus Coast then Ray Nkonyeni Municipalities, we were officially residents of the Uvongo Borough, the local authority that owned the reserve.
It is right in the middle of a densely populated residential area, a little green island of tranquility amidst the hustle and bustle of a well-developed seaside town. For many years it was sorely neglected. A reserve, even a little one, is expensive to maintain and many Uvongo residents were not too keen on the local authority spending their rates on what they saw as a bit of a luxury. Rates were much better spent fixing roads and keeping the town clean.
Luckily not everyone felt that way. One of them was Edgar Lee, an environmental consultant and an active member of the Uvongo Rotary Club (now amalgamated with the Margate club to form Rotary, Hibiscus Coast). About 25 years ago, he was looking for an environmental project for his fellow Rotarians to adopt. The little reserve fitted the bill perfectly. And Edgar happened to hook up with another remarkable Hibiscus Coast citizen.
Dave Halle is more than a dedicated conservationist. He is a mover and shaker and the hyperactive and charming initiator of all sorts of wonderful green projects and ideas. Dave doesn’t even live in Uvongo, but he was quite happy to take the neglected reserve under his wing.
Back then, environmentally-minded farmers were linking up to form legally constituted rural conservancies. By embracing greener farming practices and by working together under the umbrella of an established conservancy, they could better protect the natural environment in which they worked and lived.
If the farmers could do it, then why couldn’t the townies?
The Rotarians started a trust and Dave gathered together a handful of Uvongo residents to form the Ivungu River Conservancy, one of the Hibiscus Coast’s very first urban conservancies. Nowadays this conservancy also keeps an eye on Saints Walk, between Uvongo and St Michaels beaches, keeping the alien invasives in check.
Bill and I have been members of the conservancy since it was first constituted and it still enjoys the support of the Hibiscus Coast Rotarians. It has been successful beyond any of our imaginings.
When the conservancy came into being, it was almost impossible to go into the reserve. For years, invasive alien weeds, including pine and gum trees, had grown there unchecked and had virtually choked the natural vegetation. Evicting them was one mighty battle. Invasive aliens, often nurtured in neighbouring gardens by ignorant or disinterested property owner still slip over the fence and take root in the reserve. However, a robust, ongoing alien maintenance programme keeps them at bay.
Once the conservancy began to win the weed-busting battle, members started clearing the old, overgrown trails. Bridges over streams and gulleys were rebuilt and signage was created to make the reserve more user friendly. The conservancy even produced a magnificent little booklet on the reserve. After all, members wanted the people of Uvongo to appreciate their little urban treasure.
Severe flooding washed away sections of the bank some years ago.
Rather than see it as a setback, conservancy members saw it as an opportunity to reroute some of the old trails and to open up sections of the reserve that had been inaccessible to visitors. The flooding river also did a marvellous job of clearing away the heavy infestation of weeds on a couple of the inaccessible islands. Today the river banks are restored to almost pristine perfection. The riverine forest is a tree-hugger’s delight and the little reserve is home to an amazing variety of mammals, birds, reptiles and insects.
Its success story does not end there. Ivungu River Reserve has proved to be something of a pilot project. Since then, Dave has been actively involved in the formation of many other local urban conservancies that take care of a number of local beauty spots and nature trails He and like-minded conservationists were also responsible for bringing the conservancies and other environmental organisations together to form the constituted South Coast Conservancy Forum. As an environmental lobby group in our community, it has a strong voice.
A strange thing is happening in green circles along our beautiful coastline. Our conservancies and environmental organisations all have their separate aims and projects but more and more the lines are blurred. Our green community is slowly becoming a single, unified force, working together for a greener, better future.
This beautiful little urban reserve and all that has been achieved there over the years, is one of many reminders of what our greenies are achieving.
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