Restoring balance with the Green Team

Before !Khwa ttu the land on which the Heritage Centre is built was disturbed by many years of intensive agriculture which transformed the natural vegetation and resulted in a great deal of indigenous vegetation being lost.    Even after removing all the livestock, picking up fences and clearing large stands of invasive alien plants it was clear that this is not enough to restore the biodiversity of the land to what it once was.

With funding received from IKI Small Grants, Table Mountain Fund and LemonAid & ChariTea our !Khwa ttu Green Team was able to undertake a pilot study to determine the best methodologies which will aid the team in restoring the landscape and bring back the biodiversity for which the region is so well known.   We have learned many valuable lessons including the huge impact small animals like rats and mice have on their environment.

Barn owls (Tyto alba) can eat up to 2800 rodents per year and are are excellent for keeping rodent populations at bay.  By building 10 x barn owl nests, the Green Team can provide these birds the opportunity to nest and hunt in our reserve once again.   More barn owls will help control the rodent population on the reserve, allowing seeds to grow and indigenous plants to flourish without “overgrazing” (aka thieving) from these tiny rodents.

Your donation will go directly towards the materials and labour needed to construct the nests and provide a sustainable habitat for the barn owls.  Each box costs R1,500 each but every donation, big or small, will be used in the restoration of the !Khwa ttu nature reserve.

Please help us – together, we can bring back barn owls to !Khwa ttu and restore balance to this precious ecosystem.

Click here to donate via Give and Gain