southern kwazulu-natal birding route

communities & conservation

Conservation Projects

The birding route offers the ideal co-ordinating vehicle to oversee the bird conservation needs of the region. There are a number of rare and threatened species found in the area, and more information is needed to verify their local status.

Highlighting the needs of bird conservation also offers opportunities for environmental education to communities situated in ecologically sensitive areas.

Various working groups and participants on the birding route are involved in the monitoring of threatened species, bird censuses and the management of a bird database for the area.

Effective conservation requires research in order to understand the biology and ecology of birds. There are several ornithological research projects under way in the region.

This includes the Birds in Reserves Project, SABAP 2 Project and the monitoring and evaluation of Cape Parrot, Blue Swallow, Cranes, Ground Hornbills, Bald Ibis and Pelicans.

The Southern Kwazulu-Natal Birding Route is fortunate to have two additional SappiWWF TreeRoutes Partnership Projects on our route. BirdLife South Africa is involved in the development of the Karkloof Conservation Centre and Hides, and the Marutswa Forest Trail.

1. Karkloof Conservation Centre & Hides

Cranes are large, beautiful, long-lived birds which have inspired awe among people since the earliest times.

They are the most elegant of all birds and their trumpeting calls and carefree, bounding courtship dances are evocative of our wildest places. The lifelong devotion shown by mated pairs has resulted in them traditionally being revered as symbols of peace, happiness and longevity.

The Karkloof district is priviledged to have all three of South Africa's species present:

• the Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus), South Africa's national bird, the population of which has declined by almost 80% in the eastern parts of the country during the past century.
• the Grey-Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum), of which the numbers have also decreased dramatically.
• the Wattled Crane (Bugeranus carunculatus), the decline of which has been catastrophic and it is now Critically Endangered in South Africa .

Protection of cranes however relies heavily on landowner concern and participation in conservation and the owners of Gartmore and the neighboring farms are committed to this goal.

In order to meet this need, the Karkloof Conservancy, together with the Wildlands Conservation Trust and SappiWWF TreeRoutes Partnership have constructed an interpretive Crane Centre on Gartmore Farm together with 3 hides on both Gartmore and neighboring Loskop Farm. Visitors who wish to go down to the bird hides will first pay an entrance fee at the Crane Centre. They will then walk down the connecting trails which will lead them to each of the three destinations.

Community bird guides trained by BirdLife South Africa will be available, and add great value, information and peace of mind to any birding outing.

2. The Marutswa Forest Boardwalk

The Marutswa Forest Trail & Boardwalk, located close to the quaint country village of Bulwer is a joint initiative between the Bulwer Biosphere and the Sappi WWF Tree Routes Partnership. BirdLife South Africa and the Southern Kwazulu-Natal Birding Route have incorporated the site into the route and will provide the marketing platform and other necessary services required to make the project a success.

The forest trail and board walk comprises a network of arterial trails leading into the indigenous forest. With an upper contour path for the more adventurous through a magical curtain of ancient monkey vines leading down to the flatter and more gentle lower contour forest path where there are a number of lookout jetties, picnic spots benches and view points, allowing visitors to view the various layers of the forest, including the canopy. The forest trail incorporates the logging route to an early sawmill. Before the sawmill even existed yellowwood trees were planked manually using two-man saws, over sawpits which can still be seen. A diamond engagement ring, discarded during a lover's tiff, remains to be found at the sawmill site.

The expected KwaZulu-Natal mist-belt forest bird species occur in the forest. Cape Parrot has been symbolic of Marutswa since the early days when they were known as "Bulwer Parrots", and they once raided farmer's orchards as far afield as Himeville. Orange Ground-Thrush and Green Twinspot are other highly sought after birds here.

Marutswa Forest has been described by some of the South Africa's top birding tour operators as one of the most active mist-belt forests in KwaZulu-Natal.

Community Projects

1. Sisonke Birding Route Project

BirdLife South Africa is currently involved in a Gijima funded project on the Lower Drakensberg Foorhile (Sisonke) component of the Southern Kwazulu-Natal Birding Route.

The Lower Drakensberg Foothills Route includes the world famous Sani Pass and geographical areas around the towns of Greighton and Underberg. The objective of this project is to conduct feasibility studies and write business plans for the development of infrastructure and training of four entrepreneurs at fours of the Lower Drakensberg Foothills Route's key birding sites.

An important criteria of these projects is that they must all involve the local rural communities and that the projects must be managed by the entrepreneurs.

2. Midlands Meander Education Project

BirdLife South Africa also participates in school education initiatives such as the Midlands Meander Education Project (MMAEP).

The MMAEP currently runs an Eco-schools support programme for the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and BirdLife South Africa's community bird guides in the region have all attended the necessary environmental education course and are now involved in guiding groups of school children at local birding sites.

The integration of our community guides into the MMAE Eco-schools Support Programme is proudly sponsored by N3 Toll Concession (Pty) Ltd.