Page 14 - LandscapeSA_120_digital

PROJECT

Project Team
Developer: Devmco Group
Landscape Architect: Land Art Studio
Landscape Contractor: Indigitree
Environmental Advisor and Botanist:
Michele Hofmeyr

Overall rehabilitation plan

SALTA SIBAYA LANDSCAPE REHABILITATION

Salta Sibaya, KZN, is a mixed-use development forming part of the Sibaya Coastal
Precinct, which comprises a diverse eco-system. The site has undergone landscape
rehabilitation, with the planting of 20 000 indigenous trees forming part of the

long-term landscaping and environmental rehabilitation strategy of the estate.

andscape architect Bernice Rumble of In addition to the above-mentioned restoration in the context of Salta Sibaya
Land Art Studio says that rehabilitation indigenous tree planting, over 13 000 can be identified as “the improvement
Lcan take place in varying landscape indigenous plants were rescued at the of the degraded land on a large scale,
environments, both public and private, start of the project and have now been such that it rebuilds ecological integrity,
where the landscape is degraded. The re-introduced to the site with the aim supports the establishment of biodiversity
philosophy is to restore or rehabilitate it of re-establishing ecosystem services, and enhances peoples’ lives.”
back to its natural state. extending the margins of the existing The grassland vegetation of Salta Sibaya
As the land was previously a mono- forest and recreating the biodiversity that is classed as northern coastal grasslands
culture crop in the form of sugar cane, once flourished here. This will assist in and is listed as a threatened ecosystem.
rehabilitation to its former indigenous preserving and encouraging growth within These patches of grassland and forest
habitat and landscape has been the core the landscape. A combination of habitat areas on the estate are also within the
focus; this involves returning the land to rehabilitation and restoration will together boundaries of the Durban Metropolitan
its original state and bringing back all the re-create the site’s natural environment. Open Space System (D’MOSS), which is
fauna and flora that ‘moved out’ as a result Environmental advisor and botanist currently 95 hectares in extent. It is a layer
of the mono-culture agricultural area. Michele Hofmeyr explains that landscape of interconnecting open spaces that seeks

12 Landscape SA • Issue 120 2022