The Two Rivers Urban Park, Observatory, Cape Town

The Two Rivers Urban Park, conceived as long ago as 2002 is till in the development phase. It is situated at the confluence of the Black and Liesbeeck Rivers. The eventual plan is to amalgamate a huge area stretching from Hartleyvale Stadium, across the Valkenberg Psychiatric complex to the Alexandra Institute on the Pinelands side. The park is a good concept in planning for the recreation needs of the urbanites of greter Cape Town, South Africa. It has huge potential.

The added bonus of visiting the Tow Rivers Urban Park is its abundance of bird life. This site will inevitably feature on the Cape Town birders list of must visit sites. It has in addition enormous eco-tourism potential if handled and marketed properly. The site incorporates the Raapenberg Bird Sanctuary. Critical to this aspect of the Urban Parks success shall be the guarantees required for maintaining the security of persons and expensive equipment that birders normally carry.

 The Bird Sanctuary boasts approximately 100 species of birds. The site is in my view the easiest site to photograph the Kingfishers in Cape Town. There are at least three Malachite Kingfishers and six Pied Kingfishers. These sought after birds make their appearance quite often. The site also boasts numerous gulls, pigeons, cormorants, african darters, night herons and Egyptian geese.

The Two Rivers Urban Park should complement the Green Point Urban Park as another recreational venue in Cape Town. The plans for the Urban Park I believe incorporates a corridor through the Valkenberg Hospital precinct that shall include the development of market stalls, urban farming residential and commercial development.

  It is no secret that there is an abundance of fish in the rivers of the park. This should however be controlled before the fish stock is depleted. The fish vary in size from the little critters caught by the Kingfishers to the giant sized fish caught by the ever increasing number of fisherman who ply their hobbies(?) in the park As the photograph above depicts, the fish stock is significant.



The City needs to make a concerted effort to reduce the pollution affecting large parts of the two rivers in the park. Similarly ongoing cleaning of the precinct shall ensure that regular visitors return to the park. The park needs more trees for shade. I think a bit of colour with the planting of flowers along the walking paths shall really pick up the dreary tones at the moment. Why not plant some protea bushes to attract the non water birds to the area?


So if the park is indeed completed as per the plans, I foresee this area attracting large numbers of Cape Tonians and visitors from out of Cape Town, as long as the users of the park respect the rights of others to use the park. This would then mean a tight discipline on the loud music purveyors who are immune to the enjoyment of others. 

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