Zebras in the back garden... the joy of going indigenous
FANCY having breakfast with a zebra or a family of buck?
Well, they hang out on the property at Tunzini Gardens, a hidden gem bordering the Kloof Conservancy and well known to locals who love gardening and the outdoors.
Drive towards the entrance in Kloofview Road and it looks like an ordinary, quiet street in a leafy suburb, until you turn into the driveway and are met with views that would make any nature lover envious.
For the past 38 years, owners Brigid and Pete Turner have nurtured the land, cultivating only indigenous plants and trees, thereby creating a haven for wildlife of every sort.
Sadly though, with most of their family as well as their only child now living in Mpumalanga, they are looking for someone who will take over and continue their legacy.
“It is difficult to leave, but if you know you are going to a beautiful place, it’s not so bad,” said Pete.
When the Turners married all those years ago, Tunzini Gardens consisted of four acres of mainly grassland.
“Pete was a bird watcher from a young age, and he always wanted a natural stream,” said Brigid.
He had grown up in Hillcrest and wanted to remain in the area, while Brigid was from Zimbabwe, where they had a seven-acre garden, which made the land ideal for both of them.
They bought the property and her dad designed the main house and their cottage, called The Bird Hide, which they rent out to holidaymakers.
The property is well known to nature lovers, who have attended the open garden events held in support of the Kloof Conservancy, of which Brigid has been one of the main organisers, doing the selection of all the gardens.
In the clump of bush to the left as you enter the driveway is a giant Cape Ash tree with a magnificent canopy, as fantastical as Enid Blyton’s story, Magic Faraway Tree.
The same clump contains almost 30 indigenous plant species.
Pete says in the beginning he only planted local indigenous plants, and “desert type and bushveld stuff”. They’ve also tried proteas.
A river feeds the dam where Tilapia are abundant, a little footbridge over the water boasts a sundial, while looking straight ahead is Kloof gorge.
The Turners say the property is fairly low maintenance because of all the indigenous plants, and because the garden is established.
Initially they started out with four hectares of land, but eThekwini Municipality bought two after a rare
plant species was found there.
The Turners never thought they would downsize, but now that they are, they hope to find someone who can “transform the land into a jewel”.
They say the property has sectional title approval.