Palmiet Nature Reserve

Palmiet Nature Reserve The Palmiet Nature Reserve is located in Westville which forms part of the eThekweni (Durban) Metro Region of South Africa. The reserve and river is named after the riverine plant Prionium serratum (Palmiet) which was formerly abundant in the area. The Palmiet Valley was well known to the original families from Germany who settled here in 1848. It was through this wild rugged valley that they travelled to attend church or to visit friends in neighbouring New Germany. The route followed the present day Old New Germany Road, which is now the starting point of the Palmiet Trail into the Nature Reserve.The Palmiet Nature Reserve (PNR) opened in September 1972. However its history goes back thousands of years before this time. A Stone Age implement found dates to 40 000 years or older. Evidence has been found, in recent excavations in PNR, of iron age artifacts, dating to between 1700 and 800 years ago linked to people, from which the present Zulu culture evolved, who would have roamed the Palmiet River valley and well before the later European settlers in the area.

A two and a half page description of the rugged Palmiet River valley is found in the book The History and Geography of Natal , by Henry Brooks, which was published in 1876. The frontispiece of this book has a coloured woodcut picture of the Cascade. Acknowledgement : Mary Lange, of the Circle Connection and researcher on the cultural heritage in PNR, is thanked for information supplied in the first paragraph

External links

• http://www.palmiet.za.net

Nature Birds Plants Animals South Africa