A day in nature at Ashburton Aloe Festival

Choose from a variety of talks, walks and activities to tailor make ‘a day in nature’ at the Ashburton Aloe Festival 2022 over the weekend of July 2 and 3. Encounter a variety of wildlife and birds in the Lower Mpushini Valley Conservancy, Ashburton East, just 10km from Pietermaritzburg.

At Venue A, Equestre, there will be a cluster of four conservation talks on both days. Saturday’s theme is ‘Conservation in urban environments’. The theme for the cluster of talks on Sunday, July

3, is 'Sustainability, upliftment, conserving our resources and redefining recycling'. Tea, coffee, soup and bread will be on sale for visitors attending the talks.

Also at Venue A, Equestre on Saturday, starting at 2 pm, is a dog training and agility display presented by David Padbury, Lindsay Dunsmore and Mel and Quinton Nortje. David’s passion is gun-dog field and obedience training. He breeds and trains champion Labradors who compete very successfully in Field Trials and Wing Shooting sports. The trio enjoy participating with their dogs in dog agility competitions.

David Padbury will highlight and demonstrate the importance of training your canine friends to be obedient, under control and focused and members of the Ashburton Dog Agility Group will do a demonstration using their trained and competitive dogs on selected equipment.

The festival is a fundraiser for conservation and anti-poaching activities, in particular, to enable the anti-poaching activities of conservancy game guard, Lucky Makuyana, aka ‘Hardlife. A meander of five venues are open 9 am to 4 pm, with additional activity times as advertised. The self-guided bird trail at Galago opens at 6am and the guided bird trail at this venue starts at 8am. The campfire and night walk at Galago is from 4pm. Sundowners at Impala Bend are on offer after 4 pm on Saturday.

Tickets are R50 for adults, R30 for pensioners and R20 for children. Children under six are free. One ticket allows entry to the full meander of five venues for the day. There is no entry fee for the Ashburton Aloe Festival Market.

All current Covid-19 protocols will be observed. Because this is a wildlife area, strictly no dogs allowed. For more information phone Pandora 072 692 8124 or Heather 083 665 8010. Watch the Maritzburg Sun for further updates and for the full programme.

Bring your family and join us for a day in nature at the Ashburton Aloe Festival over the weekend of July 2 and 3. Visit our Facebook page @ashburtonaloefestival2022 for the full programme, times and map.