Tiny Duiker canters into uMhlanga
A community driven environmental rehabilitation programme has facilitated the return of Duikers to the uMhlanga area.
CONSERVATIONISTS and residents were thrilled when news broke that a Blue Duiker was spotted grazing in the gardens of The Cove Complex in uMhlanga Rocks on Monday morning.
The shy and elusive little antelopes have not been seen in the area for more than ten years, and it is believed that an intensive dune rehabilitation programme, in the greater uMhlanga area, has coaxed their return.
According to Trevor Edwards, a UIP director and Park to Park trustee, the rehabilitation programme, which involves 350 residents, was initiated six years ago.
“The residents have been donating funds towards the project and as a result we have been able to spend R200 000 on planting vegetation in the bush and R500 000 on the rehabilitation of the dunes. The vegetation has enabled us to slowly rehabilitate 14 meters of bush, and to take back the heavily eroded dunes on the beaches,” he said.
The indigenous creature has been captured and relocated to the Oppenheimer’s Milkwood Estate.
