ASHBURTON ALOE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 2020
WALKS
Take a Garden Tour with
Ben Botha
'A Wonderful Water-Wise Garden'
Join Ben Botha as he shares the wonderful joys of his
indigenous water wise gardening as he takes you on a tour of his garden filled
with a collection of over four hundred species of aloes, succulents and interesting indigenous plants.
Mpushini bird walk with
Ian G. Gordon
'One life - Bird it!'
Join Ian G. Gordon on a birding walk along the Mpushini Riverine Trail and learn more about the birds you can expect to frequent valley bushveld and savanna habitat as Ian ticks off 50 birds in 50 minutes!
Planting Aloes for
Wildlife Garden
Christina Potgieter Curry
Join Christina for an informal chat about the natural history of aloes and other plants that attract nectar-loving birds to the garden. Get ideas on the range of growth habits and structure of aloes and see how their biology can make wildlife feel comfortable in your garden.
Take a tour of Rocky Wonder Aloe Nursery with Peter Poulsen and discover how you can create a water-less garden using aloes and succulents that can add colour and interest, with one or other species flowering in each month of the year.
Discovering our Early Iron Age
Heritage At Mpushini with Celeste Rossouw
Celeste Rossouw is an archeologist at Amafa with a passion for sharing our cultural heritage. Join Celeste and Francois Marais of the Ramblers, as they hike to an Early Iron Age Iron Smelting site.
Visit the wild flowering Aloe Candelabrum with Pandora Long and John Roff as they explore 'At The Feet of Giants', in the beautiful Lower Mpushini Valley.
COMING SOONBen Botha
Ben Botha was born in Elliot in the Eastern Cape
and grew up on a farm where his Grandmother had an amazing garden. She taught
Ben the love of gardening and plants from a very young age and he says that’s
where it all started.
When Ben and his wife, Carina, bought a house in a
new development and had to start a garden from scratch, I suggested to the body
corporate to go the indigenous route and they were totally sold on the
concept! It was so successful that Ben started his own landscaping business
two years later.
Since starting his collection about twenty years
ago, Ben has more than 400 aloe species in his collection, as well as a large
variety of other indigenous plants, including succulents. Ben’s Garden
has been featured on TV programs four times already and has been on BBC TV as
well. Ben give talks at nurseries and various festivals on indigenous and
succulents and spread the good word. Ben's nursery is at Shongweni which is
open to the public with a great variety of plants.
Ben enjoys taking groups and garden clubs through
his garden and is also involved in a large project at Kloof County Club to
plant indigenous, especially trees! He has done many landscapes all over KZN,
including places like Newcastle, Vryheid, Howick, PMB and many more!
Ben’s latest project is that he has started writing a book on water wise
gardening!
Tel: 082 570 4064
Email: aloealoe@mweb.co.za
Facebook at Ben Botha Landscapes and Nursery
Ian G. Gordon
Join Ian G. Gordon on a
birding walk along the Mpushini Riverine Trail and learn more about the birds
you can expect to frequent valley bushveld and savanna habitat as Ian ticks off
50 birds in 50 minutes!
Ian G. Gordon was born at Lower Umfolozi Memorial Hospital in Empangeni, Zululand on the 8th of February 1959. The youngest of the three children. Ian’s late father was a farm manager. Therefore he grew up on farms and always had birds around. In Standard three (Grade five) Ian had to do a nature project and chose birds. Ian says “After that, I was hooked on birding and supported by my parents who gave me books (Roberts) and binoculars. As they say, the rest is history.”
Ian studied forestry at Saasveld College for Foresters, George. He worked for the government in conservation forestry based in Pietermaritzburg. Ian was one of a group of colleagues in conservation forestry that were 'transferred' to the provincial conservation body, namely Natal Parks Board (NPB). After about 10 years with NPB Ian bought a plant seedling nursery which he owned for about thirteen years. Ian then managed a forestry research nursery. The following period spanned a retrenchment and retirement.
Ian currently dedicates his time to bird atlassing on the South African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2). His portfolio on SABAP2 is Coordination and Training for KZN province. Ian provides training on SABAP2 atlassing protocols and the use of the tool/app BirdLasser.
You can contact Ian via email or phone for arranging workshops and assisting with matters atlassing!
Ian’s slogan is "One Life - Bird It"
To Contact Ian GordonTel: 083 570 6782
Facebook Ian G. Gordon
Facebook Out There Birding Safaris
Instagram out_there_birding_safaris
Email iangavingordon@gmail.com
Christina Potgieter Curry
Christina Potgieter Curry is a botanist and principal technician who manages the Bews Herbarium at the University of KwaZulu-Natal‘s Pietermaritzburg campus. Join Christina for an informal chat about the natural history of aloes and other plants that attract nectar-loving birds to the garden in her talk ‘Planting with aloes for a wildlife garden.'
Christina’s
studies focussed on pollination biology. In the herbarium (‘plant museum’)
Christina’s work concentrates on plant diversity and collections management.
She is a past chair of the local KZN Inland branch of the Botanical Society of
SA and helped to organise a few of the past Indigenous Open Wildlife Gardens
for the society. Christina and her husband are keen ‘non-gardeners’, which
means that they do not have a manicured garden; they rather allow things to get
a bit shabby to encourage birds, insects and wildlife, a strategy that has
worked well for 20 years.
Contact
Christina Potgieter Curry
Bews
Herbarium, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus.
Email: potgietercj@ukzn.ac.za
http://bewsherbarium.ukzn.ac.za/
Peter Poulsen
Take a tour of Rocky Wonder Aloe Nursery with Peter Poulsen and discover how you can create a water-less garden using aloes and succulents that can add colour and interest, with one or other species flowering in each month of the year. Rocky Wonder is situated in the Lower Mpushini Valley and Peter and his wife, Heather, play a valuable role in the Conservancy, helping to conserve the valley and support it's projects.
Peter Poulsen comes from a family of architects and civil engineers and so has during the course of his life been privileged to learn a wide selection of talents from being part of such a creative family.
Peter was born in Zambia and
immigrated with his family when young to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Peter studied
aircraft engineering and made the news for achieving the highest level and
completing his apprenticeship a year earlier than the normal five years!
Peter then went farming with
cattle and mixed crops before the situation in Zimbabwe forced Peter and his
family to move to South African where he joined his brother in civil
engineering and earth moving company. Peter
then started his enviroscaping business which included redesigning and
implementing building aesthetics and redoing garden landscapes to better
ecological functioning.
Peter and his wife, Heather,
moved to the Mpushini Valley over six years ago and now run the thriving Rocky
Wonder Aloe Nursery. This has enabled
Peter to bring his skills and passion together encouraging others to approach
gardening from an ecological perspective concerning water use as well as
realising his love for nature and conservation. Peter is an avid birder and enjoys
identification and watching them in his nursery comprising over 200 species of
aloes.
Peter, being conservation wise
decided that he would build an earthbag home instead of the normal brick
home. Designed on the golden mean of the
ammonite shell, his favourite part of the day is relaxing on his deck with
Heather at the end of the day, watching the Nyala and Zebra and hundreds of
birds that come to visit.
To contact Peter Poulsen
Tel: 082 7287467
Email: poulsen2005@gmail.com
Facebook: Rocky Wonder Aloe Nursery
Celeste Roussouw & Francois Marais
Join archaeologist, Celeste Rossouw, of KZN Amafa & Research Institute, accompanied by Francois Marais, of The Rambers, PMB, as they hike out to discover our rich Iron Age heritage in the Mpushini Valley. Learn about an Early Iron Age Smelting Site in the Lower Mpushini Valley, these early people's way of life and importance of conserving this rich heritage as our 'living libraries'.
Ms Celeste Rossouw obtained a
Post-graduate diploma in Museum & Heritage Studies (2002) and a Honours
degree in Archaeology at the University of Pretoria (2006) as well as a Masters
Degree in the Conservation of the Built Environment at the University of Cape
Town (2016).
Celeste has worked at the KwaZulu-Natal
Amafa & Research Institute since 2006 and loves to learn about our past, to
inspire the youth to care for our heritage and to conserve it for both present
and future generations.
To contact Celeste Rossouw
Tel: 082 891 5518
Email: celrossouw@gmail.com
Francois Marais is well known in Pietermaritzburg from his work at the Surveyor General's office, as well as the energetic leader of the PMB Ramblers group. Francois takes a keen interest in geology and ecology and has a keen interest in interpreting both natural and cultural history.
As part of Francois's training he was exposed to geology at UCT which sparked his further interest. Working in Namibia, Francois was able to experience both the geology and history of mapping and also developed knowledge of the German settlers.
Coming to KZN and working in the SG office and joining the Ramblers, Francois interests had the chance to grow. Francois is keenly interested in how it all fits into our existence and the responsibility we have to preserve our natural and cultural heritage is very important to him. Francois says "Sharing this information gives me great enjoyment."
Francois often visits the Lower Mpushini Valley with fellow hikers to spend the morning
doing a stiff hike along the tracks and game trails in the valley.
To contact Francois
Tel 074 31372 40
Email fran.fm26@gmail.com
Pandora Long
Pandora Long and John Roff explore 'At the Feet Of Giants', celebrating the wild flowering Aloe candelabrum, revealing the rich natural and cultural history and the seasonal changes of this beautiful valley bushveld valley.
Pandora Long (nee Schep) grew up in the Western Cape
on the outskirts of the village of Durbanville.
As a young girl she watched as bulldozers ripped apart the homes and
habitats of the creatures she loved, in the natural areas surrounding her
families smallholding, to make way for roads, suburbia and industrial development that destroyed the natural beauty and sense of place.
At eighteen, Pandora married her late husband, Wilfred,
and they settled in the Lower Mpushini Valley.
Together they raised four children, took care of the farm and started to
protect the valley and river from numerous threats including mining and inappropriate
developments.
Pandora studied Education, Training and Development at Durban Institute for Technology & UKZN and Biodiversity Stewardship and Extension at NMMU, and worked for many years as an
environmental consultant to several NGO’s including WESSA and DUCT with a focus
on river health. Pandora’s passion is
for environmental education integrating arts and cultural activities. In 2012 she walked the uMngeni River as part
of the ‘Mayday for Rivers’ Riverwalk Team and has completed walking nearly a
dozen smaller tributaries.
Since 2018 Pandora has lectured part time at the
University of Kwazulu-Natal in the School of Education and Development where
she focuses on social and environmental issues and the implications for education and development and research. She continues to host education and training
groups in the valley as part of an eco-centre outreach at Galago Farm, as well
as coordinating the Happy Earth Environmental Education & Sustainability
Forum as an education project for the broader Umgungundlovu region.
Together with Neville Durow, Pandora founded the Lower
Mpushini Valley Conservancy in 2003, and out of this work formed the
Preservation of the Mkondeni Mpushini Biodiversity Trust. She initiated the
Ashburton Aloe Festival in 2007. In
2011, together with her community saw 665 hectares of the valley formally
gazetted as the first Community Biodiversity Stewardship Site in Kwazulu-Natal,
known as the Mpushini Protected Environment.
Pandora has developed as an environmentalist and
activist in order to address, together with her community, the numerous
challenges the valley and surrounds faces.
Pandora loves teaching, gardening, painting, writing, story-telling, communing with nature, hiking and playing music and most of all, loves combining these activities with others, especially children, in creative ways.
To contact Pandora
Tel 072 692 8124
Email pandoral@mweb.co.za
Conservancy: lowermpushinivalleyconservancy@gmail.com
Lower Mpushini Valley Conservancy
Happy Earth Environmental Education & Sustainability Forum
John Roff
Visit the wild flowering Aloe Candelabrum with John Roff and Pandora Long as they explore 'At The Feet of Giants' revealing the rich natural and cultural history and seasonal changes in the beautiful Lower Mpushini Valley.
John Roff has spent his professional life helping people experience and enjoy the wonder and beauty of the natural world. Time and again, John has seen people refreshed, healed and restored at the deepest levels through the wonder and wisdom of nature.
It has been John's personal experience that time in nature helps you find your way, on many levels, and he'd like as many people as possible to have this opportunity.
John is a qualified and registered Specialist Nature Guide for Kwazulu-Natal (KZN0101).
Growing up exploring and learning outdoors in rural Zimbabwe led to a life-long fascination with nature, and a career in nature guiding and environmental education. John has been privileged to share hundreds of South African places with thousands of people. John is committed to helping people find their way to delight, wholeness and purpose through personalised experiences in nature.
John's interests and passions include knife sharpening, wilderness exploration, Christian spirituality, men's work (mentoring, growth and spirituality), education, research, spiders (I've discovered two new species), insects, orchids, the bushveld, trees, forests, and geology. Some hobbies are jewellery-making, playing numerous musical instruments, creative writing (John is a published poet) and taking the time to enjoy really good tea and coffee.
To contact John
083 662 2306
Email: john@strongheartretreats.co.za
Strong Heart Retreats
The Lower Mpushini Valley Conservancy would like to thank our speakers for their contribution towards raising funds for anti-poaching and conservation.