“I’m 76 years old and this is the first time I’m seeing such beauty in this place.” These are the words of Mrs Sarafina Sibisi, a ‘tree-preneur’ from the Buffelsdraai community outside Durban. The place she’s talking about is uShaka Marine World. This is the first time Mrs Sibisi has ever been to uShaka, although she’s lived in the Durban area all her life. It’s also the first time she’s ever seen dolphins, turtles, penguins and all the other weird and wonderful sea creatures you’ll find there.
Mrs Sibisi was able to enjoy this experience thanks to her hard work and a programme called Indigenous Trees for Life. The programme, run by Wildlands Conservation Trust, teaches the tree-preneurs, mostly women and children from rural and peri-urban communities, to grow indigenous trees. These trees are then traded back to Wildlands for goods the growers need such as food, clothes, bicycles and garden tools. The trees are then used in reforestation projects around KwaZulu-Natal. There are now more than 3000 tree-preneurs in 23 communities around the country.
To encourage the tree-preneurs to grow more trees, and to ensure an environmental education element is carried through the programme, Wildlands introduced the Rewards programme. Manqoba Sabela, Wildlands’ Environmental Education Officer explains: “Tree-preneurs who’ve grown 100 trees are taken on a day trip to an environmental centre, 250 trees earns an overnight stay and 500 trees earns them a wilderness trail experience.” Mrs Sibisi is one of 22 tree-preneurs from the Durban area who were rewarded with a Trip to uShaka for growing a minimum of 100 trees.
Sea World Education Assistant Mpilo Mkhize, first took the tree-preneurs through a series of slides. The slides showed pictures of some of the creatures they were going to see and Mpilo shared titbits about each of them, which had the tree-preneurs cocking their heads and raising their eyebrows with interest. The tree-preneurs learned how muscle crackers are born female but become males; how choral are made up of tiny animals that we can’t see with the naked eye; and how sea cucumbers secret a kind of superglue when threatened, which their predators can get stuck in. Mpilo shared how stingrays protect themselves with stingers on their tails; how the male sea horses incubate the eggs laid by the female; and about the breeding habits of loggerhead turtles. Eels had an interesting lesson to offer as well: they eat the legs of octopus but not the whole body because the legs grow back, making it a sustainable morsel.
Next was the dolphin show, a firm favourite, and a visit to the aquarium, followed by lunch on the beach. One tree-preneur commented: “I have gained so much information about marine life. I have also learned that the trees we grow help to provide oxygen that animals use to breathe, that makes me proud. I was surprised to see that a dolphin can listen and do what you tell it to do; I thought that human beings only had that ability!” Another said: “I feel that I’m now aware of the marine life and the importance of marine conservation. I didn’t know that there are so many animals in the sea”. Mrs Sibisi, who was in awe from all she’d seen said, “I’m speechless because I have learned so much about sea life. I’m going to start telling my grandchildren about sea life and the sea turtle, they’re my favourite; they are like tortoises that can fly in the water”.
The trip was also made possible through NPC Cimpor who sponsor all of uShaka’s outreach programmes. uShaka takes 4000 under privileged children through their gates each year to discover the wonder of marine life, and also make trips out to schools and centres when site visits are not possible. “We’re happy to be supporting this project”, said Jone Porter, Director of Education for the NPC Sea World Education Centre. “The nature of the work that Wildlands is doing will benefit marine areas down the road. If we don’t have vegetation cover you’re going to get run-off of silt into the rivers, and this has a direct impact on estuarine systems which are vitally important ‘nurseries’ for the marine environment”.
The tree-preneur education rewards initiative forms part of Wildlands Green Leaders Programme. This programme is focused on nurturing environmental awareness and leadership amongst the Trust’s partners, including tree-preneurs and community and business leaders. The projects involve direct hands-on learning experiences, through which potential green leaders are exposed to our region’s spectacular biodiversity.
Photo 1: Top left
Back row from left to right: Manqoba Sabela (Wildlands Environmental Education Officer) and Tree-repneurs Dan Mkhize, Simphiwe Mkhize and S’khosiphi Mhlongo
Front row from left to right: Tree-preneurs Morin Gumede, Rose Mchunu, Busisiwe Ndlela, Nonhlanhla Khumalo, Thobsile Nzuza, Nobubele Nqwenani and Sarafina Sibisi.
Front: Mpilo Mkhize (Sea World Education Assistant)
Photo 2: Middle right – Tree-preneurs enjoy the Dolphin Show.
Photo 3: Bottom left – Seventy six year old tree-preneur, Mrs Sarafina Sibisi, enjoying her first trip to uShaka.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)