In Swakopmund, Windhoek, you are likely to see the beautiful gardens in the suburb of Vineta along the beach. The area is so beautiful and epic that it attracts the viewer to alight and capture several selfies or do some snap chatting with the garden spreading to the ocean. What the general public is unaware is that the garden is maintained by the homeowners whose property border the beach of vineta. The beach and the people’s homes are separated by the gardens belonging to the municipality that extends along the walkway starting at Mole.
The gardens, therefore, get beautiful each day thus attracting a large number of residents of Swakopmund who would like to jog, walk, fly kites, play football or cricket or just relax with family. The epic flowerbeds become a very nice background for wedding photo sessions. Students and sport club members use the lawns for games and sports training while people who work nearby sit in the garden and have their lunch and break time meals.
The gardens are called paddock gardens and are an initiative of the nearby homeowners who thought of changing the face of the desert beach so sandy and unattractive to be more attractive. They were set up through a trust known as the Paddock Gardens Trust established in the year 2002 when the homeowners near the paddock decided to come together to protect and develop the space between their homes and the ocean to an attractive and accessible public garden.
The trust expresses the rights Swakopmund town council gave the homeowners to control the area for which they would also support financially. They, therefore, provided initial grass for planting in the lawns, grey water, machinery, technical assistance, as well as plants for the interlinking areas.
A statement from the trust highlights the commitment of the paddock gardens trust to the administration and maintenance of the area. The trust, therefore, uses the local gardening service for maintenance and employs the Swakopmund accounting firm to crosscheck the financial transactions concerning the gardens and the purchases of gardening tools. The purchases are made using funds from the trust supporters. It is voluntary to contribute but the amount to be contributed is set by members of the trust in an annual general meeting.
There are private developers who have made applications to the town council to buy or lease the paddock gardens. Despite the attempts, the town councils commitment to support any community-driven initiatives with the aim of uplifting the area plus the PGT success in changing a once sandy, vandalised, and litter ridden area to an attractive public garden have made the council turn down.
