Grassy Park and Lavender Hill in Cape Town do not usually inspire visions of tranquillity and beauty. These suburbs, situated on the Cape Flats close to Muizenberg, have traditionally struggled with poverty, crime and other social problems. It is the last place you would expect to find the Western Cape’s only population of hippos.
Yet smack in the middle of these Cape Flats suburbs you will find one of Cape Town’s jewels, the Rondevlei Nature Reserve. Even more surprisingly, the well-kept wetland reserve is situated directly alongside the heavily polluted Zeekoevlei. But unlike its filthy neighbour, Rondevlei has become a haven for birds, mammals and people.
Imvubu Nature Tours, a community-based company operating within the reserve, is setting new boundaries in putting Rondevlei on Cape Town’s tourism map, while helping out impoverished communities living around the reserve.
Imvubu (which means hippopotamus) was established in 2002 with the use of poverty relief funds, made available by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. The company was started by James Currie, an experienced tour operator, who formed a partnership with two locals, Graeme Arendse and Joy Bennett.
Arendse grew up only two minutes’ walk away from Rondevlei Nature Reserve in Grassy Park. It was his enthusiasm for nature as well as his great people skills that won Currie over to make him one of the partners.
Bennett, a qualified horticulturist, is the other director. She too grew up on the Cape Flats near to Rondevlei. Her passion for plants earned her a bursary to study plants in Sikkim, India, and she has worked at some of the most celebrated botanical gardens in the world, including the Royal Horticultural Society Gardens in Wisley, England, and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town.
Currie has since left Imvubu, leaving Arendse and Bennett fully in charge of the fledgling company. The two partners’ connections to the surrounding communities now makes Imvubu a fully community-based tourism outfit. Together with four employees, all from the surrounding areas, the duo are developing Rondevlei into a world-class tourism destination.
Arendse is in love with his job. ‘I would not want to work anywhere else. In fact this does not feel like work at all,” he laughs.
He gained his love of nature from childhood visits to the reserve and is now a dedicated and self-taught naturalist. His eyes light up when he talks about the future of Imvubu and the difference it is making to his community.
‘Our mission is to provide our guests with an authentic, knowledgeable nature experience and quality customer service while maintaining a commitment to the betterment of neighbouring communities and preserving the environmental integrity of the reserve and its flora and fauna,” Arendse says. ‘We want to develop Imvubu into a transparent, sustainable tourism initiative that links tourism, conservation and communities, that works closely to ensure the mutual benefit of all concerned parties.”
All the employees are members of previously disadvantaged local communities. Arendse says Imvubu provides training for its employees and is also running a learnership programme.
The company makes a stringent effort to outsource all its labour and goods from locals wherever possible. Guides come from the neighbouring suburbs and the catering company Imvubu uses is based in Grassy Park.
‘The caterers are so skilled they can do three functions in a day, though they only rely on eight people. Without the right opportunities that company would still have been struggling,” he says.
Rondevlei is in a good state for an urban reserve, though it is close to Zeekoevlei, a wetland under increasing stress from chemical pollutants and sedimentation. ‘Rondevlei is cut off from Zeekoevlei, and only one storm drain connects the two wetlands,” Arendse says.
Zeekoevlei is a prime example of why communities should become more involved in their immediate environment, he adds. ‘Community education is a priority. You will cut down on your general pollutions once they have the knowledge on how the wetland system works. It will also empower the community to become more involved in clean-up projects.”
A percentage of Imvubu’s profits is directed into a fund set up by the Zeekoevlei Environmental Education Programme (Zeep). These funds are to used by Zeep for the environmental education of previously disadvantaged children across the Cape Flats.
Rondevlei was established in 1952 and has become a paradise for nature lovers, birdwatchers and botanists. The reserve is one of the most important wetlands for birds in South Africa and 230 species of birds use the reserve as their home.
‘The reserve also boasts unusual and threatened ecosystems like strandveld and sand plains fynbos, and features some plants found nowhere else on earth,” says Arendse.
Besides the hippos, other small mammals found in the reserve include caracals, porcupines, Cape foxes, grysbucks, steenbucks, mongooses and otters.
School children at the moment are the most common group of visitors to Rondevlei, says Arendse. ‘Many of the local schools in Grassy Park and Lavender Hill visit the wetland, and some of the kids are exposed to this environment for the first time.”
Visitors are offered guided tours, boat cruises, conference facilities, tailor-made special occasions and secluded overnight accommodation.
Though the wetland reserve has been in existence for more than 50 years, it has not yet drawn the big crowds that such a facility in the tourism heartland of South Africa might expect to get.
‘About 90% of our clientele is local tourists, meaning that it is mainly Capetonians coming to enjoy the bird life, or groups visiting to learn more about the environment,” says Arendse.
But Imvubu has big plans to put the reserve on Cape Town’s much valued tourist map. ‘As a destination alone, Rondevlei will not make the international grade. It is better to position yourself with other tour operators. We are working together with these operators to market the reserve and our tours as part of a bigger picture, so that tour buses will stop along the way.”
Imvubu is also co-operating with community-based restaurants in Kalk Bay and arts and crafts centres near townships to develop a tour called Divirsytours. ‘Our focus will be on making our immediate community benefit,” says Arendse. The tour will include a stopover at Rondevlei, a visit to the local community of Zandfontein, lunch at fishermen-operated restaurant The Money Tree Café and a last stop at a craft centre at a township.
Imvubu’s commitment to the community has already attracted the attention of organisations that encourage good tourism practices. At the time Earthyear went to print the company was waiting for final confirmation that it would receive certification from the prestigious Fair Trade in Tourism in South Africa (FTTSA), which rewards outfits that invest in good sustainable practices such as uplifting their immediate community.
FTTSA’s national coordinator, Jennifer Seif, said Imvubu is a most amazing product. ‘I was impressed with Imvubu’s involvement in the community,” she added.
According to Arendse, FTTSA was impressed with the community ownership of the business, its good labour practices, including training, commitment to the community that transcends into equity and its sensitivity towards the environment.
When Imvubu became involved with Rondevlei two years ago, the infrastructure was not adequate and the company had to invest a large part of its funds in upgrading the reserve. Arendse and Bennett are particularly proud of Imvubu’s rustic island bush-camp that gives visitors a feeling of total isolation, though they are only 20 minutes away from the concrete jungle.
The bush camp is situated on a small island in Rondevlei and offers guests the only overnight accommodation in a nature reserve in Cape Town. The camp sleeps up to 14 adults, with basic facilities on-site. These include gas lamps, gas skottelbraai (barbecue), deckchairs, bunk beds, washbasin, a gas-heated shower and toilet. Visitors can rent out the whole island at about R80 per person, with a minimum charge of R240.
The island camp is extremely popular among fishing groups, ornithological parties and family groups.