Fairewood Nature Reserve & Hobbiton

Fairewood Nature Reserve, situated on the edge of Grahamstown in the triangle between the N2 and the R67 (road to Port Alfred road), is approximately 100 hectares in size. Passing motorists are often treated to excellent views of wildlife such as Blesbok, Bushbuck, Duiker, Eland, Impala, Kudu, Ostrich, Red Hartebeest, Mountain Reedbuck, Springbok and Zebra. The aim of Fairewood is to provide a safe and secure environmental facility within easy walking distance of the local community, while providing much-needed employment. In line with the Reserve’s commitment to ecologically informed management principles, it shoud be kept free of invasive alien plants (IAPs), and all introduced fauna and flora should be indigenous to the area.

Facilities at Fairewood will include an outdoor education and recreation centre, including boma and ablution facilities, water and electricity. The community centre will cater for up to 40 day visitors from the University, schools and private groups. It will also be available for events such as monthly craft markets, imbizos / bosberaads, etc. Several short trails are already in use by hikers, botanisers and birdwatchers. Future plans include the establishment of ten picnic sites, a small shopping facility, entrance gate, office, guardhouse as well as public toilets. Income generated by the Reserve will be utilized firstly for maintenance of the Reserve, and all excess funding to be donated to Rhodes University for the establishment of a Fairewood Nature Reserve Bursary Fund to further environmental studies for local students.

More info: http://www.hobbiton.co.za/fairewood.html

Make contact: Len Kruiskamp, Manager: l.kruiskamp(at)ru.ac.za, AH: +27-46-622.3527, C: +27-82-552.3829

Go to the Rhodes University ENVIRONMENT front page. Suggestions/Questions? Contact environment(at)ru.ac.za

Last Modified: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:02:01 SAST