Memel, Free State

Memel, Free State

Memel is a small town in the Free State province of South Africa, possibly named after the port city of Memel, East Prussia (today Klaipėda, Lithuania), but no current residents can verify that.

The name means surrounded by water in Old Prussian. The Seekoei-vlei Nature Reserve, a massive wetland spanning some 30 km², surrounds the town, which was declared a Ramsar site in 1999. It houses more than 250 species of birds, and the town is now a popular destination for bird enthusiasts (in the early 1990s, Birdlife South Africa identified the town of Wakkerstroom as the most important birding area in South Africa and located its field headquarters there. Some years later it became known that every bird species occurring there also occurs in Memel). Seekoeivlei is also home to some re-introduced hippopotamus, Seekoei being the Afrikaans translation for "sea cow". The word "vlei" means wetland. Accommodation in the reserve has been constructed and is expected to open to visitors in 2010.

Decades earlier, farmers built numerous drainage canals to create arable farming land. This dried the wetland out, and only in the 1990s Rand Water started a rehabilitation programme to restore the wetland. Part of their motivation was due to the realisation that clean water could be supplied more cost-effectively by forgoing chemical and mechanical treatment, and rather letting the wetland push its water back into the Vaal River where it augmented the water scheme already in place. The whole project cost two million Rand. Ongoing efforts continue. Working for Wetlands is a program supported by three separate ministries (Water Affairs, Agriculture and Tourism). Headed in the Memel area by an engineer from Zimbabwe, Working for Wetlands annually employs between 30-90 unskilled workers who lay gabbions (rocks placed in wire retaining cages) to slow erosion and resurrect marshland.

The town is slowly undergoing a transformation mainly due to the rehabilitation of the wetlands. House prices have moved from the R50 000 level to around the R400 000 mark in a matter of just two years as nature lovers from the big cities move in and renovate the old houses. That increase in the cost of homes and land continues. Many artistic celebrities have made Memel their muse and weekend home. Chris Chameleon, Mathys Roets and Mel Botes most prominently. Mathys is building a recording studio on his farm and Mel Botes is constructing a performance amphitheater made of stone in the classic Greek tradition. One game farmer has relocated his operation from the draught-stricken Limpopo area and (literally) moved his 27+ species of game to a well-watered mountain farm just outside the village. A Capetonian from the film industry has purchased and operates the Memel Hotel.

International investors have discovered the hidden gem of Memel and the drama of its surrounding mountains and rivers. Buyers include a former British military intelligence officer, retired UN officials and an American aerospace engineer and filmmaker. The donor of the property being refurbished as the National Music Centre of Zimbabwe is an investor and regular visitor to Memel.

Residents of the town have traditionally kept gardens and small orchards of fruit trees. Newcomers have expanded that thread by intensively developing permaculture gardens based on rainwater and storm water run-off. Local organic gardens now produce dozens and dozens of vegetable varieties, as well as butter, yoghurt and cheese. A Farmers Market takes place most weeks. Four separate houses have been constructed by methods of natural building, including rammed-earth and straw-bale, and many more are in the pipeline. Solar and wind power are suited to the area and much new development aspires to be off-grid.

The adjoining township of Zamani is tiny by South African standards and crime free. During most months of 2009 and 2010 there have been volunteers in Memel and Zamani, from Gauteng, France and America, teaching art, sports or English to the schoolchildren in the Primary Schools.