Water is one of nature’s greatest commodities that is never taken for granted in Africa. If the rains don’t arrive for many areas it simply means no water. Here on UmPhafa we are incredibly lucky to have the strong and constant Tugela River running alongside our reserve. This means that throughout the dry winter months we can pump water to our waterholes which would otherwise be dry.

With this water access in mind we have decided to undertake an exciting new project that will most definitely bring new life and a new dynamic to the reserve. We have decided to flood a low lying plain and create a wetland area. The wetland will have various depths from very low almost surface level to deeper areas of over 2 meters where we will create islands so that birds will have the opportunity to nest.

Already with just the very foundations being established we have seen large numbers of Blue Cranes, Spur Winged Geese, Ibises and many very noisy frogs and toads exploring our new area. We hope that the different species numbers will increase with birds such as Plovers and Lapwings also making UmPhafa their home.

We aim to time capture our wetland by taking photos every wet and dry season to see how the habitat changes. We will document various species and their habits such as nesting and will eventually build a hide to monitor these animals without intruding on their natural behaviour.