Elcock Road residents are reaping the rewards of patiently rehabilitating the dunes in front of their properties.
Jan and Zeele Pauw, together with support from other environmentally-minded residents, have removed alien invasive plants in the backshore and replaced them with milkwoods, plugged holes in the coastal bush in the middle shore, and encouraged plant growth on the dunes in the foreshore, down to the high water mark.
Jan and his team of eight part-time workers have built the dunes up from the high water mark with a row of wooden stakes, before anchoring the sand down with brush.
From completely bare sand dunes, many now boast a coating of growth.
“We started the dune defence programme about four years ago and got Mike and Denise Woodroffe and Warren Freeze of Sea Spray Guesthouse on board,” said Jan, who moved to Toti from Nelspruit in 1986.
The project was first started on the dune directly in front of Jan and Zeele’s property in between Winkle and Warner Beach, but he has since consulted with complexes behind the dunes, who have come on board to extend the project.
“Dave Couzens and Cabana Del Mar got involved and more people are showing interest. We have reached as far as the lagoon on Winkle beach in the south and I won’t stop until we reach Baggies in the north, hopefully in five years’ time.
We are quite proud of it. However, it needs constant work. It really is a labour of love and requires tenacity and and patience.
We used to carry logs on our shoulders from Ellcock Road, but after consulting Nandi Magwaza of eThekwini Municipality’s beaches department, Justice Ngcobo started dropping off bags of debris that was raked up off the beaches.”
When he first became interested in saving the dunes, he studied a document from New South Wales and consulted with other environmental enthusiasts to how best to go about the project.
Jan has also made and erected educational signs, warning the public to stay clear of certain areas of the dunes which are inhabited by the white fronted and lap wing plover. “The bird life is coming back, it’s brilliant,” said Jan. “We have seen birds nesting for the first time in 15 years. This is the second season the spitted dikkop has returned.
It is immensely gratifying. Thanks to the residents of Ellcock Road, Tweddie Pallets for supplying stakes, the parks department, and Nandi and Justice for their assistance.
We live in such a beautiful and special place. If we don’t look after it, who will?”
