Celebrating wetlands and traditional knowledge at Rondevlei

02 February 2026

The National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), together with the City of Cape Town, a RAMSAR Wetlands City, celebrated World Wetlands Day at the Rondevlei section of the False Bay Nature Reserve, a designated RAMSAR site. In keeping with the theme for World Wetlands Day 2026 ‘Wetlands and Traditional Knowledge: Celebrating Cultural Heritage’, attendees met the City’s River Wardens who are part of a City-led programme to develop their knowledge of wetlands and biodiversity.

False Bay Nature Reserve was designated a RAMSAR site on World Wetlands Day in 2015, and claimed this status by meeting nine criteria related to its ecological value, including its abundance of biodiversity, species rarity, and migrating capacity.

The City was declared a RAMSAR Wetland City in 2022. Given our commitment to protect the wetlands within our boundaries, the City commenced with the River Warden Skills Development Programme in partnership with Nature Connect on 1 July 2024. The programme targets the youth and women from communities surrounding the False Bay Nature Reserve, Zandvlei Nature Reserve, Edith Stephens Nature Reserve, and Table Bay Nature Reserve.

The programme entails three-year training in conservation-based stewardship and an FET certificate in Nature Conservation (NQF 4 qualification), as well as temporary employment with the City while enrolled. To date, 57 participants have received training, mentorship, and temporary employment opportunities.

‘The River Wardens are hands-on with river and wetland restoration work. They remove invasive alien species, do litter clean-ups and habitat rehabilitation, and are also involved in community outreach programmes, stakeholder engagements and public awareness initiatives. These are very important tasks because we need our communities, especially those who live adjacent to reserves, to help us protect these natural assets for future generations.

‘Eight of the 22 River Wardens that are placed at the False Bay Nature Reserve operate here, at Rondevlei. They are the local champions and future conservation leaders who monitor ecosystems, educate their neighbours and contribute to the City’s biodiversity goals, all while caring for their own natural surroundings,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.

River Warden teams removed significant quantities of alien invasive vegetation and solid waste from City reserves and surrounding areas from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. The estimated totals are:

• 141 280 kg of alien invasive biomass
• 77 648 kg of solid waste

The quantities are estimated using average bag weights, where alien invasive biomass amounts to approximately 10 kg per bag and solid waste to approximately 8 kg per bag. These estimates provide a consistent and practical method for tracking environmental impact across sites.

‘The City is serious about the protection of our wetlands, and we invest a lot of time, resources and energy in preserving these precious resources. The River Warden Skills Development Programme improves the health of the city’s ecosystems while also creating pathways to vital employment opportunities in the environmental management sector. The health and future of our wetlands rely on our ability to build partnerships with our communities, the youth, and NGOs like Nature Connect,’ said Alderman Andrews.

Rondevlei has a picnic area, museum, six birdhides and two towers where visitors can observe the diverse birdlife and plants. It is about 230 ha in size and home to the city’s only hippo pod. Hippos were re-introduced to Rondevlei in 1981 after a 300-year gap to control Vleigras, an alien grass from South America, which was smothering the wetland at the time.

Photos are available here | Captions: The Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), Narend Singh, together with Alderman Eddie Andrews, the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, celebrated World Wetlands Day at the Rondevlei section of the False Bay Nature Reserve, a designated RAMSAR site earlier today. The visitors explored Rondevlei with a walk to the bird hides, viewed the reserve, inspected reed clearing by the City’s River Wardens, and also received lessons in the creative uses of reeds.
 

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office