African Wildlife & Environment Issue 79

DESTINATIONS

Marievale WESSA staff and region committee visit to the reserve (Photograph: John Wesson)

site. The wetland consists of aquatic vegetation with reed beds of Typha capensis and Phragmites australis predominating. Large open stretches of water are present all year round, with seasonal fluctuations in water levels. Shallow, open shorelines attract many species of waders, which is one of the reasons Marievale has become so popular a spot for birders. The origins of the Bird Sanctuary began in the 1930s, when gold mining in the area known as the 'East Rand Basin' began. A mining company, Marievale Consolidated Mines Ltd, purchased 45 square kilometres of land, mainly on the farms of Vlakfontein and Draaikraal. The land was typical 'Transvaal Highveld', used extensively for agricultural purposes. The Blesbokspruit flowed through this area, there were little to no reed beds along its narrow banks, and few if any expanses of open water. By the 1950s, this area had undergone significant changes.The gold mining operations had necessitated the building of all types of structures. A large residential area for employees and their

families, roads, railway lines, pipe- and power- lines were built on earth, rock and concrete embankments over the Blesbokspruit. The natural flow of the spruit was impeded by all of these embankments, and this created large shallow expanses of open water, suitable for colonisation by reed beds and other aquatic vegetation. This new wetland habitat soon attracted a great variety of bird species. The area soon became known for the abundance of sedentary and migrant water birds. The shooting of so called 'game birds' such as spurfowl, guineafowl, duck and geese became a regular sport for mine employees and their friends. One of the most popular social functions was the annual 'Duck Shoot and Dance', which was held regularly from about 1948 to 1959. Shooting was then discouraged and finally prohibited in 1963. The area became a natural sanctuary for birds and other animal life. Toward the end of the mine’s profitable operations in the 1960s, negotiations took place between the mine management and officials

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