December is suddenly here and whilst the world around us seems to be going crazier every day, those of us privileged to live in the greater St Francis area can enjoy the FOSTER Nature Reserves on an ongoing basis and live in what one must acknowledge as being a special place and in many ways a bubble sheltered from much of the madness of the world around us.

For those with holiday homes here or visitors to our area a visit to one of our reserves for a walk or hike are not always top of mind with so much else to do and enjoy in our region. This is an ideal activity when the wind blows, which it surely will, and there are always trails to be found that shelter you from the worst of the wind, be it in the Seal Bay reserve when the East Blows or in the Irma Booysen when it’s a west, The Cape St Francis Reserve is good option irrespective of the weather conditions.

We do have some spectacular walks and trails for all to enjoy and even now during a severe drought we still have an array of stunning plants and flowers in our reserves. Our maintenance team has been hard at work in ensuring that our paths and trails are in great condition and that the reserves look their best. We are very grateful to our generous donors who have really made it possible this year to virtually eradicate rooikrans from the reserves and now it’s a question of maintenance to ensure that we keep unwanted aliens that destroy our naturally occurring fynbos at bay.

One of our long-standing projects, i.e., new signage at the entrance to the reserves is complete and all the major entrances now have an informative sign that tells what trails and hikes you can do as well as some of the no/no’s in our reserves. One of the most important is clearly no fires, however attractive a braai in the Seal Point reserve or at the lookout on the CSF reserve may appear to be. With the drought and regular wind, it won’t take much to spark a fire that could have devastating consequences for our fauna and flora and even human life with the threat of loss of material possessions.

All the maps for the various trails can also be found on our website at foster.org.za.

Thanks to all our members and donors for helping to maintain the reserves through your contributions in 2022 but please remember we need you to play your part again next year if we are to keep the reserves in the pristine state that they are and should always be.