The welcome rain sounded so great on our roofs and I knew the sight in the morning promised to be one of FRESHNESS and great views across our beloved vlei …
Wow! Nature did not disappoint at all …..
The abundant bird life was astounding and the cacophony of sounds pleasing to any nature lover…. This is why we live in the area afterall.
BUT …… Yes … a HUGE BUT !
let me zoom out and you will see the impact of some human beings and their total disregard for nature and our environment … Disgusting!
The next couple of pics will show the amount of dirt that actually came down these rivers overnight and continues to pour into the vlei with all its negative effects ….
The Steel net that was installed by The Department of Roads and Storm water, is also not serving the purpose and have been brought to their attention ….. See pic below…
False Bay Nature Reserve staff will once again be coming to our rescue with staff to remove as much dirt as possible so that the negative impact in minimised and we are eternally grateful to them!
So .. Maybe all the amazing sounds these pelicans and flamingo’s are making , could be them complaining bitterly about their co inhabitants of this earth, US! Hmmm?
and the facts are … No matter where you live on the vlei, it will / is affecting your life as well so we really need to make sure that the ANTI LITTER message is shared with people from ALL walks of life … that careless dropping of chip packets, tossing cigarette boxes out of the car window, dumping full refuse bags of dirt into rivers, etc … etc … MUST BE STOPPED!
But … Neva give up and continue trying to change the culture to save our environment … We thank you for trying …. We still live in the best area in Cape Town!!!!!
Be a Friend 🙂
Thanks for the update and the constant awareness message!
Hi Dalton..
Together we will make a difference.. FOZR thanks you and your team for the dedication in this regard.
We need to clean the rivers before the rains come down.
Thanks Sydney
Hi Colleen…
Thanks for your input…. Falsebay Nature Reserve will advise on next steps and FOZR will naturally assist… we will share details soonest. ..
Thanks for the informative writeup and pics Sidney. We may be preaching to the wrong people. I doubt that any Vleibour is contributing to the pollution. On my daily commute to Bellville, I see the the dumping startingnear the airport, through Mannenberg, Hannover Park, Lotus River, Grassy Park on its eventual outlet to the sea via Zeekeoivlei.
Somehow we need to get the City Of Cape Town to do something about it. It’s reached pandemic proportions.
Hi Trevor..
FOZR is fully aware of what the causes are and hence the comments states.. Please ensure that we share this message to ALL walks of life.
This post has been shared to groups in Lotus River, Grassy Park, Wynberg,Fairways, etc… etc.. Hence we know that the rest of the greater community will also see the devastation and hopefully act more responsibly.
I have been encouraging the City to extract digit and commence the long overdue clearing of the Canal & River in advance of the first of the winter rains. The catch fence in the Lotus River was ineffective from installation with litter simply flowing over the sag in the fence.
All we get is hollow words of intent with little action.
I wonder if it could be possible for FoZR, Cteet and Changing Lives Through Nature to collaborate and put together a school education campaign…where vested adults go to schools in eg lotus river mannenberg, grassy park etc and give fun, informative yet short talks about the importance of not littering and why they personally should not do it. I drop my cleaner off at her home in Grassy Park quite often, and invariably see little children dropping chip packets down onto the street or pavement as soon as the chips are finished. Which shows that there is no awareness there. It all starts with the youth!