The Koofendal Nature Reserve was one of Johannesburg’s first nature reserves and is considered of high conservation value. It is home to a number of endangered species on 150 hectares of land which is categorised as an ecotourism and heritage park.
The People for Wildlife relaunched their organisation on 6 September at the Ecological Centre where members of their team prepared a presentation about the organisation’s plans for the following months.
Before the presentation took place, snake expert Henke Marais provided residents with a snake presentation. Marais brought different snakes to provide insight on their distinct traits, habitats and behaviour. Residents got the opportunity to see the snakes in close proximity and also got to touch and hold a venomless python.
Lionel Smith founded the organisation 15 years ago. “People for Wildlife started out as an idea when I realised how much people love nature and being closer to the wildlife,” he said.
The Koofendal Nature Reserve has a number of trails, that residents can walk and see mammals such as duikers, hedgehog and moutainreed buck, who call the reserve their home. Director of People for Wildlife Stuart Bartman believes that society needs to have greater awareness about environmental issues and how they can participate in the challenges the nature reserve is faced with. “I believe incorporating environmental awareness as part of the curriculum at schools will help the next generation understand the meaning behind it and encourage [them] to participate,” he said.
Bartman also said there are fun and educational programmes that residents are most welcome to participate in, such as taking guided walks with tour guides about what they witness in nature and have the opportunity to ask as many questions as they want from someone who is knowledgeable about nature.
Secretary treasurer of People for Wildlife Charmaine Schmidt said that they do monthly talks to raise awareness about wildlife. “There have been talks about spiders, garden birds and our next talk will be about scorpions,” she said.
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