Kwa-Ximba
One of our members, Simon Maphumulo lives in the Kwa-Ximba area near Cato Ridge and in mid-2012 expressed a desire to start a conservancy as there is very little environmental awareness in this area. Simon approached Kloof Conservancy for assistance to establish a conservancy.
Kloof Conservancy responded to this appeal with enthusiasm as we see the project as part of our outreach commitment and to spread our “green footprint” beyond the boundaries of Kloof. It was also an opportunity to involve neighbouring conservancies and Drummond Conservancy volunteered to assist.
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Kloof Conservancy’s Role
The community dynamics and priorities in Kwa-Ximba are significantly different than in Kloof and require local solutions to be developed by local residents.
Kloof Conservancy’s role is to mentor, guide, provide initial resources and transfer our skills to the local team to enable them to ultimately establish a structure and programme that is in tune with the needs of the local community.
Drummond Conservancy and Kloof Conservancy plan to continue to provide ongoing mentoring and guidance to the Kwa-Ximba Conservancy.
Green Day
Numerous consultative meetings were held with community members and a decision was made to hold a Green Day to test the community response to environmental initiatives.
A local school, Nomfihlela Primary School was identified as a venue and a site that needed “greening”. During the course of the Green Day invasive alien plants were removed, trees planted and a garden established at the school entrance. There was a formal tree planting ceremony, a snake demonstration and music and traditional dancing by local Malanda Ahlophe choir. Food was generously donated by Dunbar’s SuperSPAR and a most enjoyabe day was had by the approximately 80 people that attended.
Registration
Following on the success of the Green Day a committee was established, a constitution adopted and a resolution taken to register the conservancy with the KwaZulu-Natal Conservancies Association and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. The registration process has been completed and Chairperson Simon Maphumulo was presented with the registration certificate at the KZN Conservancies Association AGM on Thursday 9 May 2013.
The newly elected committee is planning further regular activities and plan to start informing the residents on the importance of a healthy environment.
Natural Heritage Day
Our partnership with the Durban Natural Science Museum (DNSM) and Kwa-Ximba Conservancy continued on Monday 23 September 2013 when we ran a joint venture event to celebrate our Natural Heritage at Kwa-Ximba. This is part of our outreach programme to use our skills, resources and expertise to extend our “green footprint” to less advantaged areas.
The DNSM did us proud and brought a wide range of exhibits including the large rhino’s model and provided most of the funding for the event. The senior management were all present and it was great to see their commitment to promote the environmental message.
Over 600 people attended the event most of whom were school children and it was heartening to see their interest in the exhibits and hopefully this will translate into greater environmental awareness in the future.
Kwa-Ximba Trail Run
In October 2014 the first running of the Kwa-Ximba Trail Run took place with start and finish at iSithumba Cultural Village. Just over 100 runners took part over three distances, 4km, 16km and 21km.
Kloof Conservancy provides funding and project management skills to the Kwa-Ximba Conservancy to ensure the smooth running of the event.
The event is now a fixture in the KwaZulu-Natal trail running calendar and raises funds for the Conservancy’s activities.