Return of the Knysna Loerie to the Featherbed Nature Reserve
Rehabilitated nature reserve just one of the many highlights of Knysna excursion
It was the birds, Featherbed Nature Reserve’s Nicole Tunmer says, that finally indicated to them all would be okay.
The reserve, now described as the premier rehabilitation project along the Garden Route, was destroyed by a fire in June 2017 that swept across the area.
But it was the same fire that allowed the team at Featherbed to breathe new life into the reserve which offered its first eco tour in 1984.
The fire destroyed all Featherbed’s facilities and 95% of its vegetation, including invasive alien species, such as Rooikrans.
A thicket of milkwood trees that now provide a canopy to the new Food Forest was also damaged in the fire and, despite advice from experts to remove the trees, the Featherbed team decided to keep the milkwoods so it could provide some stabilisation to the cliff during the rehabilitation process and prevent erosion.
Much to their surprise – and delight – the trees soon starting sprouting leaves.
It would take a team of between 20 and 50 horticulturists at a time about 18 months to rehabilitate the area, pulling out millions of invasive plants that had germinated from seeds that survived the fire and the reserve reopened – with a new restaurant – on December 1, 2018.
The facility’s Beach Bar opens on September 14 and another restaurant – the Tug Bar – with a conference facility is also scheduled to open later in 2019.
“Nature allowed us to do this,” Tunmer says as we enjoy a buffet lunch under the milkwood canopy.
“As soon as the Knysna Loerie returned, we knew that nature had restored itself.”
Source: heraldlive.co.za