Durban's amazing urban wildlife
Durban’s garden wildlife is more than just plants and flowers—learn how to support the good critters and keep the pesky ones in check!
We have some incredible wildlife that lives alongside us in Durban’s urban gardens, in our homes, and across the country.
Our gardens are mini ecosystems. You’ll find a variety of wildlife such as geckos, skinks, frogs, and snails like the Common Diadem and African Monarch. Birds like sunbirds and dusky flycatchers are regular visitors to Durban gardens, along with birds of prey like the protected Crowned Eagle. Pollinators like honey bees and butterflies are essential as well.
In the latest episode of The Green Scene, Andiswa Susan Dlamini, Duncan Pritchard, and Sharlene Versfeld look at their roles within the ecosystem and share tips on how to support beneficial species while safely managing pests.
Susan admits that this isn’t her comfort zone, but she’s open to being convinced by Duncan and Sharlene.
Duncan emphasises the importance of creating a welcoming habitat.
If you plant indigenous flowers like aloe, strelitzia, and wild dagga, you’ll attract not only butterflies but also birds like sunbirds. They love the nectar. It’s about supporting the whole ecosystem – healthy plants attract the right insects, which, in turn, attract birds and other animals.
We all have creatures we adore, but some creepy crawlies still manage to make us uncomfortable. Yet we’ve been living alongside them since time began—so why do they seem out of place in urban settings?
Listen to episode three of the proudly Durban podcast at the top of the page, or directly below.
The Green Scene is produced by East Coast Radio in partnership with Durban-based NPO Green Corridors.
The ocean is probably the greatest wilderness area on the planet. It's right in front of us, but we just can't see it.
Durban's ocean and rivers
Meanwhile, for those of us who live on the coast, gazing at the sea, we may just see a lot of water, but there is so much more beneath it. In episode two of The Green Scene, the team looked at the Durban coastline—and explored the challenges we face in keeping it clean and healthy.
When people walk down to the sea, you watch them, they put their arms up in the air. It's like, and it doesn't matter where you come from, your background, your culture around the world. We've got this connection to the ocean that, that everybody feels.
Listen to episode two below:
Did you know that Durban is located within one of South Africa’s three globally recognised biodiversity hotspots, the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot?
With its rich variety of ecosystems, the city is home to an incredible range of plant and animal species—many of which are found nowhere else on Earth.
Yet, despite this natural wealth, Durban’s biodiversity faces increasing threats from climate change, invasive species, and urban expansion.
Listen to episode one directly below.
Follow the series or listen via the ECR website under Podcasts, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
Meet the Hosts of The Green Scene Podcast
Andiswa Susan Dlamini is the Tourism Operations Manager at Green Corridors having worked there since its inception. She cut her teeth at the various Green Corridors sites where she helped manage and co-ordinate activities and has an intimate knowledge of its various operations. She is passionate about her role and helping connect people to the various Green Corridors sites. Andiswa is mum to a fast-growing teenager.
Duncan Pritchard heads up tourism product development, project management, planning and marketing at Green Corridors and is an independent sustainability practitioner with a special interest in niche ecotourism markets, avitourism, rural community development and related projects. His work aims at social, environment and economic development using tourism as a tool. He founded ETC-Africa a consultancy specialising in sustainability, ecotourism, conservation and greenhouse gas reporting. He is a registered carbon auditor and founder of the Unearthed academy for social entrepreneurship. He works on sustainability-related projects locally and internationally with groups ranging from small non-profits to local government to multi-national companies around Africa.
Sharlene Versfeld is a well-known Durban communications consultant who is also a qualified nature guide, nature enthusiast, and keen conservationist who works with Green Corridors. She loves trail running, hiking and walking, adventures, and travel, having done some iconic overland Africa trips with her family. She is married to an “IT Geek” and has two young adult children.