African Legacy Projects
Aliens make way for indigenous
Project Ullmann Park
Tree planting
November 2018
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Project Ullmann Park
Clearing undergrowth
June 2016
Aliens make way for indigenous
Project Ullmann Park
Clearing aliens
March 2018
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Project Ullmann Park
The big one begins!
May 2016
2km of city paradise opened
Project Ullmann Park
Sandspruit walk
January 2017
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Project M5A
Extending the green corridor
June 2019
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Project G10
Creating a community area
April 2016
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Project G4
Extending the green corridor
June 2018
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Project G14
Extending the green corridor
October 2015
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Project G6
Extending the green corridor
May 2017
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Project G7
Start of the green corridor
March 2014
From Mowed Grass to Critter Haven:
Back in March 2008, armed with shovels and saplings, we declared war on a boring patch of pavement and lawn. Our mission? Transform this urban desert into a bustling wildlife corridor. Those first trees were just the beginning of what would become a five-star resort for insects, amphibians, and reptiles!
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The Garden Effect
Our mini-jungle became the talk of the neighbourhood, and soon we were playing plant Santa, delivering drought-hardy natives to eager gardens all around. After transforming a massive 220 m² of lifeless lawn across the street into a wildlife haven, we're marching our green revolution up the block. Who knew one garden could spark such change?
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Community Magic in Bloom
What started as a wildlife corridor blossomed into something even more special - our neighbourhood's favourite hangout spot! Between the native gardens, we created a cosy fire pit to play host to legendary potjie cook-offs, spooky Halloween gatherings, and plenty of lazy Sunday catch-ups. Building on our previous corridor projects, we kept a grassy heart in the middle where neighbours can gather, chat, and admire the surrounding wildlife haven. Turns out, planting a garden can grow more than just plants - it grows community!
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Claude
Although this is a very small area, it was right in the middle of our green corridor. Converting it from a grass and weed strip to a insect friendly garden has helped to break up the brick paving of the driveways either side and made the entire area much more pleasant to look at.
The addition of a few small trees will completely transform the area over the next few years.
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Building on Beauty
When we discovered this spot, the owners had already created a gorgeous aloe garden - talk about a head start! Our mission? Amplify the indigenous magic. Step one was swapping out an invasive Italian Poplar for a majestic local Paperbark Acacia (Vachellia sieberiana var. Woodii). But, as gardens love to keep us humble, we hit another surprisingly shallow municipal water pipe - lounging at 10 cm below ground. Sometimes even the best garden plans need a bit of unexpected plumbing adventure!
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A Shady Challenge Becomes a Garden Paradise
Armed with determination and our trusty shovels, we tackled our next wildlife corridor link - a sleepy patch of municipal land dominated by a towering London Plane tree (Platanus x acerifolia). Although this tree is an alien, it's seeds are sterile and it poses no real threat, plus it was sentimental to the neighbours. This 100 m² project would connect our previous garden transformations into one continuous green ribbon.
First up: giving that stubborn Plane tree and its Firethorn neighbours a proper haircut to let some sunshine reach our future garden. With better light streaming in (though still delightfully shady), we wove a network of viewing paths through the space, perfect for both maintenance and admiring our handiwork.
And yes, in true gardening adventure style, we had an unexpected run-in with a surprisingly shallow municipal water pipe - just 6cm underground! Nothing like a bit of unplanned plumbing to keep things interesting!
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Claude
This is one of our largest private pavement conversion projects for a wildlife corridor that continues from previous projects Project G7, Project G8 and Project G14) in the same area.
Here was yet another grass verge begging to be so much more. The potential of an area this size makes it a very appealing project for us.
The project was started on 3 April 2016 when a small area of grass was removed for our signature planting. However the intention in the future is to continue right along this pavement covering a massive area (about 300m²).
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Claude
Ernest Ullmann Park was always an essential part of our integrated solution to create large wildlife havens that extend right into residents' gardens and it was now time to take on this behemoth task.
Unfortunately, Ernest Ullmann Park was typical of many of Johannesburg's parks. City Parks regarded this area as very low priority and in keeping with this they had done little to maintain it for decades.
We cannot just enter a city park and take over maintenance or plant trees without the approval of City Parks. For this reason we teamed up with the 'Friends of Sandspruit' who are accredited by City Parks to take on this role.
Of particular concern were the safety issues due to vagrants having made their homes in the park for years. There was also a massive litter problem from decades of dumping and cable-theft trimmings.
Much of the undergrowth and overgrowth could be attributed to highly invasive alien plants, so that was our starting point. Clearing this and made life a little more uncomfortable for any miscreants and vagrants who moved on to other pastures. With the co-operation of security patrols by CAP the runners and mountain bikers returned, soon to be followed by families and the sound of children.
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Some our our pre-Eastern Cape projects
This is where it all started. From humble beginnings and no clear focus, we have come a long way and started a great movement educating about and transforming areas for the benefit of nature.
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Meet the team
Meet the dedicated African Legacy team, and don't forget the volunteers who give up their valuable time to assist us in achieving our goals and our donors without whom we wouldn't have achieved half our goals.
Our sincere thanks to you all!
Claude
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Andy
2nd Vice-chair
Tove
Secretary & treasurer
Troy
The IT Guy
Noël
1st Vice-chair
You
Our volunteers
