Edith Stephens Wetland Park, Nature reserve in Lansdowne, Cape Town, South Africa.

Edith Stephens Wetland Park is a 39-hectare reserve in Cape Town built around a large seasonal wetland, with surrounding stretches of Cape Flats Sand Fynbos and Cape Flats Dune Strandveld. It holds seven Red Data plant species, nearly a hundred bird species, amphibians including the endangered Western Leopard Toad, reptiles and mammals. Trails, a bird hide and a medicinal plant garden sit within the grounds.

The reserve grew from a smaller piece of land donated by botanist Edith Layard Stephens, who wanted to protect Isoetes capensis, a plant found nowhere else on Earth. Later additions brought the site to its present 39 hectares, and the park was named after her. It is run by the City of Cape Town with the local community.

The visitor center here offers environmental education programs that explain how local ecosystems work, and it partners with nearby community groups to build support for nature conservation. You can see directly how the place connects people with the landscape around them.

The park lies in Philippi on the Cape Flats, and the City of Cape Town runs it together with the local community. Boardwalk trails cross the wetland and connect the bird hide, the picnic area and the medicinal plant garden. The wetland is seasonal, so the water level and the paths vary through the year.

The wetland shelters seven threatened plant species and about 95 bird species, with herons nesting on islands within a detention pond. This bird population becomes especially visible during breeding season.