False Bay Ecology Park hosts festival and family fun walk

The City of Cape Town, in partnership with BirdLife South Africa (BLSA) and the Cape Bird Club (CBC), will host a festival and family fun walk on Saturday 12 April 2014 at the False Bay Ecology Park (FBEP). Read more below:

The City of Cape Town invites all residents, especially the communities surrounding the False Bay Ecology Park, to come out and enjoy a family day spent outdoors celebrating some of Cape Town’s best wetlands and the diverse birdlife they support. This will be an opportunity for residents to discover an ecology park right on their doorstep.

The FBEP is regarded as the most significant natural asset in the Cape Flats District.

‘The False Bay Ecology Park is an important multipurpose open space. Through this event, we hope to encourage greater use of the area and create awareness about the importance of this park and the birds, animals and plants that it supports. Protecting our natural resources is a team effort. The City actively conserves these important areas as part of our commitment to being a caring city, but we ask communities to support our conservation efforts in return,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic, Environmental and Spatial Planning, Councillor Garreth Bloor.

The FBEP festival and fun walk aims to bring together people of all ages to introduce them to the area and its incredible natural resources by letting them experience it in a fun way, whilst learning about why this is such an important project to the City of Cape Town.

Participants can take part in a 4 km, 5,5 km or 6,8 km walk through the Strandfontein Birding Area of the False Bay Nature Reserve, which includes a fun environmental quiz relating to the area. There will also be a lucky draw with prizes on offer at the end of the walk.

Participants who register early and complete the routes will receive a free lunch courtesy of John Dory’s which they can enjoy after the walk, while picnicking on the banks of the Zeekoevlei at the newly constructed picnic and braai facilities.

Other interactive activities include a live bird show by the Eagle Encounters Raptor Rehabilitation Centre, a reptile display, a fire safety demonstration, and entertainment by Zibi the waste-wise ostrich.

Entry for the event is R5 per person (a maximum of R20 per family). All profits will go towards conservation activities at the site. Registration will take place on Saturday 12 April 2014 from 08:30, on the eastern shore of Zeekoevlei. The venue will be signposted from the access point off Strandfontein Road.

For more information on the event, please contact Dale Wright via e-mail: westerncape@birdlife.org.za.

Directions:
From the south: Strandfontein Road can be reached via Baden Powell Drive (R310).
From the north: Strandfontein Road can be reached via Jan Smuts Drive or Lansdowne Road.

To get to the False Bay Nature Reserve, turn into Zeekoevlei Road from Strandfontein Road (M17).

A map to the event location is available here: http://tinyurl.com/FBNRmap