Mad About Marievale

Stan Madden’s passion and dedication has seen is bird sanctuary become a Gauteng hotspot and globally recognised wetland

- Tania Anderson

Stan Madden is 92 and hasn’t slowed down a bit. We meet him at the environmental education centre in Marievale Nature Reserve (renamed from Marievale Bird Sanctuary), ten kilometres from Nigel, east of Johannesburg, where he greets us with a warm handshake. “You’ve been visiting Marievale for ten years and not yet been to see me,” Stan teases.

I join Stan, founder of Marievale Bird Sanctuary, on a drive around his beloved reserve and, as we record the birds and watch photographers, he shares his vast knowledge of the Marievale wetland ecosystem, which lies within the Blesbokspruit Ramsar Wetland of International Importance.

Stan tells me that, by the mid-1940s, the construction of embankments for booming gold-mining operations had blocked and diverted the natural flow of the Blesbokspruit that runs through the centre of the reserve. “This created open, shallow stretches of water, and wetland vegetation moved in, creating a habitat for the abundant wader and water-bird species it’s known for today,” explains Stan.

“Staff of Marievale Consolidated Mines started regular bird shoots in 1948 and blasted away at ducks all over the wetland. The annual Duck Shoot and Dance organised by the Marievale Women’s Charity Fund became the greatest thing other than Christmas. I was instrumental in stopping the shoots so wasn’t very popular with management. The mine manager told my friend later at a function, ‘This bugger stopped my duck shooting, and also managed to get my wife to badger me to the extent that I agreed with Stan that the area needed protecting.’” The dance, ​however, continued for many years, but under another name.