TWO BRIDGES WALK
WALKIES
ROUND THE ESTUARY, A 380 DEGREE TURN
This came about, because we realized the
need for a re-assurgency in interest and to keep our members updated on the
surrounds.
On Saturday morning, the 20th of
October to be precise, for an hour an a half, a group of ‘Girls’ from the
Umgeni Estuary Conservancy decided to do a “Tester Walk”. We went from the
Riverside Hotel, where we parked our cars, across the Athlone Bridge to the
Green Hub, where we talked to the staff and then across the new cycle/pedestrian
walkaway on the M4 Bridge. There is a fantastic view of the uMngeni Estuary and
the mouth of the great river, as well as the Mangroves and the waves of the Indian
Ocean.
ON
THE NEW WALKAWAY ON M4 BRIDGE
The Bird species that we saw were recorded
by Denise Tsouris and Reinette van Rooyen.
Swift Terns; Whitebreasted Cormorants; Grey
Herons; Greyheaded Gulls, Hadeda Ibises; Bleating Warber; Indian Mynahs;
Blacksmith Plovers (Lapwing); Little Egret; White Pelicans; Pied Crow; Red
Bishops; Spoonbill: Little Swifts; White-eyes; Yellow-billed Kites; Common
Sandpiper.
We also saw this beautiful sight, the dense
growth of Avicennia marina (White
Mangrove). Because of the habit of this Mangrove as a pioneer plant, this area
of the Estuary has been established quite quickly. Also, the fact that there
are no big natural floods or any other ones, to be honest, so nature has not
taken it’s course, and flushed out the river. This kind of area is not
conducive to bird-life because of the White Mangroves mud-flats, with not a lot
of fish or insect life. The fish nursery area has also probably decreased, due
to pollution and lack of the right nutrients that come down with floods.
We also popped in at the Beachwood
Mangroves EzemveloKZN Wildlife Open Day, where they were show-casing the new
Education Centre.
EzemveloKZN
Wildlife Honorary Officer Ron Horley (who is also on the Umgeni Estuary
Conservancy Committee) with some of ‘The Girls’
Then the Rain started, but it was only
light, as we left the Mangroves and proceeded across the Big Field, surrounded
by Trees and onto the newly completed First section of the Paved Cycle-track.
It was looking good and we were all in a cheery mood, despite from getting wet.
We walked past the Hibiscus tillaceus (Lagoon Hibiscus) Hedge
And up Soofie Saheb Rd to the back entrance
of the Riverside Hotel.
Hazrath Soofie Saheb was born in 1848 on
the west coast of India. He came to South Africa in 1895. He established the
first Khanqah on the northern banks of the uMngeni River. He built a mosque,
madressa, orphanage and catered for the elderly and destitute. Two cemeteries were
also established. I gather that some of the complexes on Riverside Rd, are
built on top of the some of the graves. And then up to the Group Areas Act
after 1961, this land on the north bank of the River was reserved for people of
European descent and all other people had to leave their homes for other areas.
It is only fairly recent in the late
1980’s that this law fell away and that the name of the Road was changed to
Soofie Saheb.
COMPILED BY:
Rosemary Harrison
PHOTOGRAPHS
Margaret Burger
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