SA’s rich are flocking to bird-friendly estates

SA's most luxurious eco-estates are becoming key players in birdlife conservation, with barbets, woodpeckers, hornbills, kingfishers and eagles flocking to these prime properties.

In its latest top eco-estates picks for 2022 report, New World Wealth, a Sandton research firm,  said ecologically friendly estates are becoming increasingly popular with the wealthy.

It estimates that by 2050 more than 30% of the world’s high net worth individuals will either live in or have second homes in such estates.

Among the top estates it identified are Zimbali and Prince’s Grant, both on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, Fancourt in the Garden Route, Steyn City in Johannesburg and Val de Vie in the Cape winelands.

“In countries with large numbers of estates, such as SA, this percentage could reach as high as 60%,” said Andrew Amoils, New World Wealth's head of research.

“Eco-estate living is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, especially among affluent people who travel a lot and have homes in several countries. This is mainly due to the safety and environmental benefits of estates. Ecologically friendly lifestyle estates with natural indigenous wilderness areas are becoming particularly popular.

“Zimbali Coastal Estate and Prince’s Grant are home to crowned eagles and have been instrumental in helping to conserve the species for more than 20 years.”

• 3 to 4 - The number of crowned eagle pairs breeding at Zimbali

• Up to 10 - The number of rodents owls kill a day

• 1980s - When estate living first came to SA

—  IN NUMBERS:

Zimbali resident Varuna Singh, who served as director of the estate's environment committee, said: “The University of KwaZulu-Natal often conducts research within Zimbali because it is such a rich ground to various threatened species, like frogs.

“The crowned eagle has been breeding for a few seasons within Zimbali. We are very blessed to have the crowned eagle, which is extremely threatened. We have had three or four of these breedings within the estate. We also have live camera feeds so we can see what is happening within the nests.”

Amoils said many estates had installed owl boxes to attract these birds of prey.

“Another benefit of eco-estates is they leave dead trees for birds to nest in. Many of the world’s most iconic birds, including barbets, woodpeckers, hornbills, parrots and kingfishers depend on dead trees to nest as they find it difficult to bore holes into live trees as the wood is too hard. Most eco-estates have bio-corridors and wilderness zones that preserve dead and dying trees.”

He said Prince’s Grant is a bird lover's paradise and is home to trumpeter hornbills, mangrove kingfishers, Narina trogons and palm-nut vultures.

Grahame Diedericks of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty in Midrand said demand for properties in estates that offer wide open spaces and natural, scenic surrounds is growing.

Samuel Seeff, chair of the Seeff Property Group, said: “Estate living, including eco-estates, is one of the fastest growing property trends, further accelerated by the pandemic and shifts in lifestyles.”