Connecting plants, birds and people
Ingcungcu Sunbird Restoration is a non-profit company which aims to heal the relationship between plants, birds and people in Cape Town, where high biodiversity intersects with growing social inequality.
Ingcungcu currently runs a regular after-school Eco-Club programme with 64 learners at 4 schools in Steenberg and Lavender Hill. Since 2014 they have established 10 gardens at schools and community spaces across Muizenberg, Steenberg, Vrygrond and Lavender Hill; engaged more than 800 children in immersive learning activities in nature; and have trained 20 community members from across Cape Town through Pollinating Pride in People – a community garden project which aims to inspire pride in Fynbos, our natural heritage.
“Ingcungcu” is an isiXhosa word meaning ‘long-beaked bird’ and is also used to refer to royalty.
Vision
Ingcungcu’s vision is to create a Sunbird Corridor of stepping-stone gardens across the Cape Flats, linking Muizenberg Mountain with the Boland Mountains above Stellenbosch. By planting nectar-rich gardens which create a migration corridor for birds, Ingcungcu is connecting isolated patches of critically endangered lowland Fynbos, and reconnecting urban communities to nature.
Mission
Their work is grounded in social-ecological research and focusses on planting gardens of locally indigenous species, providing creative and immersive experiences in nature, and inspiring young minds and hearts to care for our natural environment.
Help Ingcungcu inspire a new generation of biodiversity custodians in South Africa and grow the Sunbird Corridor across schools and community spaces on the Cape Flats. With a deepened connection to nature, these future custodians will learn to look after and protect our natural world, creating communities who care for the earth for generations to come.
What they need
Garden and education resources to expand to new schools and community spaces in 2025:
