African Wildlife & Environment Issue 76 FINAL

REGIONS / BRANCHES / FRIENDS GROUPS

we needed to try to control the amount of people visiting the reserve at any time, as we do not have facilities to handle somany people. This reserve is small with lovely pathways along the spruit, and through the semi-forest along the Sugar bush ridges and along the well looked after wetlands. Big groups of people cannot just turn up, or WhatsApp or Facebook invites sent out without the approval of Nature Conservation. Dogs, bicycles, drones or picnics and parties are not allowed, as we have many small animals and ground birds and lovely protected areas. No organised sport or any other religious or team building events are allowed by the Nature Conservation division. Moreletakloof is still a very beautiful and tranquil part of nature that falls under the protection of Nature Conservation and both the Friends of Moreletakloof and Nature Conservation are walking many extra miles to protect and keep this safe reserve to the best of our abilities. This reserve is part of the very important green belt along the Moreletaspruit, which offers a thoroughfare for insects, birds and animals as well as for the protection of our rivers that feed into the dams where our water purification plants are situated. The Friends are involved with ‘Adopt Moreletaspruit’ and many other forums to keep and protect our precious water and the green belt along the rivers.

We recently got sponsored by a very kind person who had helped us many years ago, and wanted to help us again to replace, strengthen and secure the palisades where the Rademeyer Spruit enters the reserve. We will also place litter traps on four stormwater outlets that discharge into the reserve, to stop the rubbish from the streets spreading deeper into the reserve. What we find so great is that people see what is done in the reserve by volunteers and then contribute. When they do not have the time towork themselves, theymake monthly donations that gives us a budget to buy paint and other materials and pay for labour to paint the six km long palisade fence. This is a never-ending project that is so important for our visiting hikers and runners, to see that money and time is spent on maintaining the safety of this reserve. We have an excellent safety record that we are very proud of. We also have the help of eleven ostriches that patrol our palisades! People must realise that our animals are wild, and must be respected at all times. We are always worried that our grasslands will not supply sufficient grazing for all our animals, and that we will have to supply lucerne in autumn, like we did in 2018. Nature Conservation recently did an animal count, which determined that some buck can be moved to other reserves, and some new animals can be brought in to maintain genetic diversity. We also have walks and talks, and ‘Eco days’ for visitors to our reserve. These are reported on our Facebook page and notice boards. In the past two years the number of visitors has picked up at such a pace that

info@moreletakloof.co.za

Trees and an abundance of inter twined plant l i fe can be found throughout Moreletak loof

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