Safety in iPhithi Nature Reserve

Visitors to the reserve may have noticed that most of the crossings on the iPhithi stream have been blocked off with danger tape, like this.

The reason for doing this is safety.

During the recent storms and floods the stream came down in spate and damaged some of these structures, or even washed them away. The wet conditions have made the wood very slippery, especially fallen log crossings like the one shown above.

Gillitts Park Conservancy has been working with the eThekwini Municipality Biodiversity Management Department (BMD) to harmonize the Conservancy’s plans for the reserve with the Municipality’s. An integrated Environmental Management Plan (EMP) is in the process of being drafted and will be released on this site when complete. The reserve is an official Conservation Area with some rules that need to be observed.

You may have seen the considerable progress that’s been made on Invasive Alien Plant (IAP) control, first by the Conservancy’s staff and more recently by BMD. The entire southern side has been cleared of alien undergrowth and the next stage is to clear all the alien saplings from the grasslands so that they can be properly managed as such. Danny Zulberg and Clever, and now Nick Liebenberg and his team, have been working like Trojans. You can see the results if you look into the reserve from Halstead Rd. The wetland is again visible. Here’s an example of the areas cleared of aliens.

As well as IAP control. the EMP concerns management of the reserve’s infrastructure. The stream itself belongs to the eThekwini Municipality and is its responsibility. The damage done to the dam by the April 2022 flood was extensive and although it didn’t collapse (the comment was made that it was an excellently built structure) the subsequent heavy rains haven’t helped. The stream has cut back quite a long way into the dam and care must be taken when walking the trail on the northern side. There are plans in place to repair the damage during 2024.

In addition, the wooden bridges crossing downstream of the dam have a lot of loose slats and are unsafe. This includes the long boardwalk across the bottom wetland which has been vandalized and has several missing slats. It becomes dangerously slippery when wet.

The damage to the ‘bottom boardwalk’. A total of 15 slats have been broken, some deliberately by vandals.

The Committee therefore decided to cordon off these crossings to inform visitors of the risks and discourage continued use. Plans are being made to permanently repair them, but this will take time and money.

The ‘bottom boardwalk’ has been cordoned off from either end. The Committee realizes that this will not be popular with visitors who value it for allowing a circular hike through the reserve. We are exploring options for a temporary repair by way of replacing the 15 broken slats. We hope that will happen soon and we can reopen it on a limited, own-risk basis. We’ll keep communications open on this matter so you can be kept informed.

Please note that the area around the dam and gazebo, and the ‘Boma’ area, are safe and in very good condition with all the recent management work. The place is still full of birds, butterflies and dragonflies, including these lovelies, seen recently.