Take a leaf from Norwegians’ forest

TO mark her 80th birthday, an Athlone Park resident has planted a tree for each member of her family in Amanzimtoti Country Club and Conservancy’s indigeneous forest.

Kirsten Svanholm and her husband Nils-Petter celebrated the milestone with 22 of their family members who paid a visit to Toti from Norway, to enjoy a host of activities in and around Durban.

The highlight of their trip was a visit to the forest to place a label with their names on their allocated trees.

Co-ordinator of the conservancy, Ted Holden was tasked with sourcing and planting the trees in November.

First a large area had to be cleared of reeds, before the quinine, white stinkwood, umdoni, mahogany and euclea natalensis trees were planted in a huge ‘S’ and ‘H’ to honour the Svanholm family.

“My sincere thanks to Nils-Petter and Kirsten for allowing my good and faithful gardener Linda Mnguni to share in a part of what must be a first, not only for this club, but for South Africa – an 80th birthday celebration that has brought a whole family from Norway to grace our club grounds not only with their presence, but with 22 indigenous trees planted to celebrate the occasion,” said Ted.

“This is a significant event in the life of our area to be graced by the Svanholms who will hopefully become ambassadors and tell their friends and colleagues in Norway about our area and its attractions.

The Svanholm’s forest area has been given GPS co-ordinates to allow for more visits in the future.”

Since the formation of the conservancy in 2002, close to 2,000 indigeneous trees have been planted in the forest.