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D
urban is wellknown for many things, including some pretty kiff beaches, gorgeous weather and flippen hot curries. But now there are further reasons for the city to boast: two of Durban’s tallest, biggest and oldest citizens have just been recognised as “champion trees”. Nationwide, there are fewer than 100 trees that have been awarded this status under a National Forests Act project to safeguard the country’s most outstanding trees, or groups of trees. Not just sommer any old tree can be chosen, explains Izak van der Merwe, founder and national coordinator of the Champion Tree project. “There has to be a definite ‘wow factor’ to justify a nomination,” he says, noting that the two newest champions are both worthy recipients of this honour. The two city champions – both exotic figs growing in the Durban Botanic Gardens – were among 11 trees added to the national list recently after a public nomination and evaluation process. The scheme started nearly 17 years ago when Izak received a call from a local councillor who was worried about the fate of a large English oak – the only large tree to have survived the 1950s demolition and apartheid removals in Sophiatown,
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We are the
CHAMPIONS!
TWO NEW – OR RATHER OLD – DURBAN TREES RECENTLY IMPRESSED THE JUDGES WITH THEIR ‘WOW’ FACTOR AND HAVE BEEN RECOGNISED AS “CHAMPION TREES”, WRITES TONY CARNIE Johannesburg. As things turned out, the old oak died soon afterwards because of a savage pruning, but this galvanised Izak and fellow tree experts to proactively secure legal protection for trees judged to be of national importance. The oldest champion tree in the Durban Botanic Gardens – a Ficus benghalensis – was
ABOVE: Ficus annulata – the largest tree on record in the city in terms of its overall size. Picture: Supplied ABOVE RIGHT: Ficus benghalensis – the oldest champion tree in the Durban Botanic Gardens. Picture: Supplied RIGHT: This avenue of London plane trees was planted in the Pietermaritzburg Botanical Gardens in 1908. Picture: Duncan Kelly
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planted here in 1871 and has since become one of the mostphotographed trees in the city. Also known as the Durban Banyan Tree, the largest specimen near the main tea garden entrance is one of three such strangler figs in the country’s oldest surviving botanical gardens. The largest of the three is just over 37m high, with a trunk diameter of
