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Pictures 5/07/2000
Trees and shrubs are planted The SOUTH WEST TRAIL on track. On the 17th of April, earth moving equipment moved into action to commence the first phase of the Hout Bay River Forum's River Upgrade Program. The work , which is being Project Managed by Chittenden Nicks & de Villiers on behalf of the Forum is the first step of a river upgrade program which will, we hope, include the wetlands and ultimately the entire river from our beach to the new Peninsula National Park.
Phase 1 extends along the West bank of the river from Princess Bridge
to the sea and will incorporate the removal of all alien vegetation which
will be replaced by indigenous species. In addition, paths will be incorporated
as well as river inlets which will help in the establishment of wildlife
habitat. This exciting project should be complete by Sept this year and we
hope to have an official opening on Heritage Day - 24th Sept. |
Phase 1 - Princess Bridge to
Beach
10th April 2000. Hout Bays Princess Bridge:- A digger
starts to remove the silt which has been dumped at the side of the river
to form a berm. The riverbanks will be re-profiled as a flood control measure
and alien vegetation removed. Indigenous plants and trees will be planted
and a trail will lead down to the beach.
May 30 2000 The Landscape starts to take shape - Gardenlife,
directed by Local Landscaper Rod Tritton, have made a rapid start, alien
vegetation has been removed and the basic re-shaping of the riverbanks has
been done . Many wild olive (Olea Africana) trees have already been planted
in time for the rains and all seems on track for our September opening.
An early morning view of Hout Bay's magnificent lagoon April
2000
Those of you who have been down to the beach recently will note that
the lagoon has probably not been bigger for many years! This is probably
due to two things:-
1) The beach sand bar has not been breached for over a year and
2) There is a lot of water coming down from the mountain which is not being
taken up by the alien vegetation destroyed by the recent fires. There seems
to be lots of fish in the lagoon which adds credence to the theory that it
acts as a fish nursery; the small fry turn into fingerlings and eventually,
when the rains come, the sand bar is naturally breached and the fish are
released into the sea. The lagoon looks magical right now and
we need to keep it that way. This picture is deceiving in that on either
side of the river rubbish has been dumped and it is time that we started
to instill some sort of public pride into our residents or make them pay
dearly.
Text and photographs by Dave
Cowley
If you would like to know more about the Hout Bay & Llandudno Heritage Trust, mail us at:- HB.Heritage@zsd.co.za
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