A nursery on the edge of the Kruger National Park has received substantial upgrades that plant hope for nature and a community to work and thrive in harmony.
Belfast, South Africa (18 October 2026) – The Tiyimeleni Community Nursery, found in the village of Belfast just outside Paul Kruger Gate, has been handed over to the community after improvements worth more than R400 000.
The upgrade includes a large 15 m by 35 m greenhouse, a shelter for day-to-day work, a storeroom, an office, paving and a new signboard. It also comes with two 5000-litre water tanks, garden tools, plant bags and irrigation pipes. Everything the nursery needs to grow plants at a serious scale.
Nursery employees also took part in a two-day business and computer training course, made possible through a partnership with the Good Work Foundation. The nursery’s project leader received a laptop and a mobile phone, which will make it much easier to manage orders, records and the daily running of the business.
Tiyimeleni was chosen as one of the community nurseries to benefit from the legacy projects of the Kruger National Park’s centenary celebrations. The projects aim to pave the way forward for inclusive conservation, where the people living next to the park share in the benefits of protecting nature.
The upgrade of the nursery is the result of teamwork between SANParks’ Kruger National Park, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, and the NGO Save the Sand.
Richard Laburn, who runs Save the Sand, says the project gives rural families a way to earn an income from nature while helping to heal the land.
His organisation focuses on restoring the Sabi Sand river catchments, whose waters flow into Kruger and then across the border towards Maputo, where they supply drinking water to around two million people. Looking after these rivers, he explains, matters well beyond the local area.
By buying trees from community nurseries and giving them to households to plant in their gardens, Save the Sand restores nature, sequesters carbon from the atmosphere and supports local growers all at once.
“The long term goal here is to allow this catalytic funding to get the nursery established, to get plants growing at scale, so that over the next 10, 15, 20 years, this business can employ lots of people, and it can allow trees to become more abundant to the region.” says Richard.
Local Ocean Champion Zoë Prinsloo Takes Her Mission Global!
Cape Town Kayakers Rescue Starving African Penguin Far Out to SeaTiyimeleni is now well placed to become a lasting source of jobs and income for Belfast, while helping to protect the land and rivers that so many people depend on.
by 
