Simbithi Eco-Estate is 17 Years Old

The ‘Eco’ in the estate’s name was conceptualised by the developer, who envisioned restoring a sugar-cane farm to the biodiversity and natural beauty of the KwaZulu-Natal coastal region.

This, and the processes that maintain this balance between development and nature, are encapsulated within Simbithi’s Environmental Management Plan (EMP) under the watchful eye of Simbithi’s environmental committee.

The successful implementation of a developer’s vision is dependent on the strength of the boards of directors and management team tasked with bringing it to fruition. This, coupled with the country’s landscape turning toward self-sustainability and renewable energy, prompted Simbithi’s latest pioneering venture.

When you consider what an ‘eco-estate’ actually is, there is not much information to help you understand the term’s exact definition.

So General Manager Malcolm Samuel began by asking residents what the ‘eco’ in Simbithi’s name means to them. A few of the responses received were: ‘It’s nice to be close to nature’; ‘I live in paradise’; ‘I live near green’; ‘I take care of the environment’; and ‘We recycle’.

This led Malcolm to believe that, although residents are proud to live on an ‘eco’ estate, they did not entirely grasp what this entailed and what part they played in the eco story.

Yes, residents do recycle. Yes, they do plant indigenous plants which do not consume too much water. Yes, they harvest rainwater … but, what else is there to do?

‘Eco’ is the abbreviation of ‘ecology’, which is defined as ‘the study of organisms and how they interact with the environment around them’.

At Simbithi, the environmental committee keeps a close watch on compliance with the EMP and continues to do exemplary work in seeing the developer’s vision to fruition. There is, of course, always room for improvement, and at Simbithi the aim is to conserve the region’s naturally occurring flora and fauna.

This formed the foundation for their Dragonfly Eco Awards initiative.The idea, birthed by the estate’s vision to stay true to its name, was created to allow residents to take an active role in maintaining Simbithi’s status as an ‘eco-estate’. As a community, Simbithi believes that it can do better while having fun, and, hopefully, attract higher values for properties in the estate through the awards programme, which homeowners may display on their resident address signage. This also ties in with their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy plan.