VISITORS to Princess Vlei will have noticed a number of improvements recently. These are part of the ongoing project by the City and the Princess Vlei Forum, to transform the area in accordance with the community vision for Princess Vlei.
    For the past five years, the Forum has been consulting with community members to develop this vision through workshops, surveys and meetings. The Forum  also has a team of architects and professional designers who are donating their time to work with the planning department of City Parks to make sure that developments are done according to the wishes of the community.
     Many of the improvements have been made possible by Councillor Kevin Southgate, who has allocated a large proportion of the ward budget to Princess Vlei every year. Cllr Southgate has also been instrumental in assisting the Princess Vlei Forum with leveraging other resources from the City to improve the environment and facilities at Princess Vlei.
    Recent developments on the eastern shore include:

• A new entrance and boom gate, designed to limit access to the park at the night. This is restrict after hours drinking on site, vandalism, theft and dumping. The boom is open at sunrise and closed at sunset, but arrangements can be made to open at other times on request.
• Brick paving of the entrance roadway and parking lot
• The erection of a wooden viewing deck
• Stone braai stands with surrounding walls. These were installed in time for those wanting to braai on the Easter weekend. Families using the new stands were pleased with the chopping blocks for wood, and hoped to see tables and benches installed soon.

Proposed improvements include:

• A communal braai stand, probably to be located under the large trees close to the ablution block.
• A children’s play park near the braai stands
• Kirstenbosch has undertaken to help with landscaping the area around the braai stands
• A 5 km walkway and trail to go around the vlei. This will include a bridge over the northern canal, and will include a short section accessible to wheelchairs, prams and so on.

The Forum is planning to raise money for the play equipment, and for a visitor's centre/ education centre/ tea room to be erected in place of the existing ablution block. This will include ablution facilities.
Trudy Gibbons from the City offers regular community walks from the Eco-Adventure center on the Western side of the vlei, and there are plans to host a weekly Park Run around Princess Vlei later this year. These activities will help to transform Princess Vlei into a rich and vibrant asset to both community and nature.

Progress made by the Manager at Princess Vlei
Denisha Anand, the manager at Princess Vlei, is settling into her job and making a huge difference to the area. Denisha's work includes restoring the strandveld and fynbos on the site, working to improve the water quality, alien clearance, monitoring of flora and fauna species, liaising with the community and the City, and environmental education.
   The Princess Vlei Forum raised money from the Hans Hoheisen Trust, with the help of CTEET, to employ a full time manager. Denisha works in collaboration with  the City management team.
Having a full time manager has enabled the City to free up some resources to the site, such as the deployment of a team of EPWP workers who have been involved with alien clearance and many other tasks. We hope that the City will take over the funding of this post in due course.
   To find out more about Denisha's work, download her latest report here.

Our wetland wildlife just got a whole group of new friends, thanks to the Princess Vlei Forum’s Wetland Wizards project. The project, which was run in collaboration with the Peter Clarke Art Centre, aimed to encourage local school children to discover more about the amazing life that is sustained by the wetlands at Princess Vlei.
 
On the afternoon of 13th March, forty school kids from Levana Primary, Harmony Primary, and Floreat Primary, gathered at Princess Vlei with binoculars, nets, sample boxes and worksheets. The learners discussed what they understood by the word habitat, and why a healthy habitat is so important for all living things. Then they went out to see what creatures they could find, and discovered water beetles, dragonflies, bees, beetles, spiders, lady birds, moths, stick insects, as well as a great variety of birds. Creatures who were caught were treated carefully, examined, and returned to their homes without being injured. Sadly they also discovered many things that don’t belong in the habitat such as old car tyres, discarded bottles and other litter.

We met again on March 22 at Steenberg Primary, this time with Steenberg Primary learners as well. This was a chance for the learners to translate what they’d discovered into beautiful artworks, guided by Liesl Hartman from the PCAC.  The learners worked in groups to create dioramas showing some of the wonderful plant and animal life that makes up the Princess Vlei wetland. Each panel of the diorama showed a different part of the wetland – under the water, underground, on the water and land surface, up in reed tops and the tree canopies. Unfortunately, due to a change in the date, Floreat Primary could not join us for this.
 
The artworks produced showed the children’s powers of observation, as well as their remarkable creativity. These wonderful dioramas can be assembled together to form a ‘Wetland wall’. This will be displayed at our art exhibition to be held at the Grassy Park Library later this year.
 
Thanks to the National Lotteries Commission for providing funds, to Steenberg Primary for providing a venue, to the teachers for giving up their valuable free time, and of course to the learners for their enthusiasm, curiosity and creativity.

Below are the wonderful art works produced by the children.