Biodiversity

The Everton Conservancy is an important and diverse area comprising of Riparian and scarp forests, grasslands and wetlands. Our work is primarily focused on the natural forests of the upper reaches of the Molweni River system and the remnant threatened KwaZulu-Natal Sandstone Sourveld grassland areas. The area, including substantial portions developed for suburban residential housing, plays a critical biodiversity role in the city, where biodiversity losses have added to escalating climate change risks and threats to survival of many species, from plants and trees, through to the rich diversity of fauna.

Much of the natural areas of the Everton and surrounding conservancies falls within the eThekwini Municipality's innovative Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (D'MOSS). Now decades old, this system sought to secure protection for critical areas of biodiversity in the context of pressures from a rapidly growing city. According to the 2020/21 eThekwini State of Biodiversity Report, well over 90% of the D'MOSS system and its important ecological assets are not formally managed and, thus, rely on citizen initiatives such as conservancies to help ensure that they are protected for their role in natural systems, but also as places of enjoyment and education for citizens of the city.

The Molweni River and its tributaries are a perennial river system. The source of the Molweni is in Hillcrest's Springside Nature Reserve. The river's name is said to be derived from Xhosa, with "Molweni" meaning “greeting”. It has 8 tributaries including Nkutu River and Iphithi (Duiker) River.

KwaZulu-Natal Sandstone Sourveld is one of our province’s most threatened types of vegetation. As the name suggests, it is endemic to the area but under severe threat from urbanisation. According to Taylor and Matthews¹, there is only 14.7% left of it in Durban and only 2.3% is being sufficiently protected. Yet, it is home to over 1000 species.

Our area contains a rich diversity of plant life, including trees such as the River Makaranga (Macaranga capensis), Flat Crown (Albizia adianthifolia var. adianthifolia) and Red Beech (Protorhus longifolia) as well as rare and endangered plants such as the Stangeria eriopus. The birdlife includes Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) and the Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina). Reptiles include snakes such as the Natal Rock Python (Python sebae natalensis) and the Spotted Bush Snake (Philothamnus semivariegatus). Amphibians such as the Natal Tree Frog (Leptopelis natalensis) are also to be found. Visitors to the walks through the conservancy might also be lucky to spot Bush buck (Tragelaphus scriptus), Caracal (Caracal caracal), Bush pig (Potamochoerus larvatus), Large Spotted Genets (Genetta tigrine), Porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) and of course Dassies (Procavia capensis). Our river even contains tilapia and eels.