Pigeon Valley, Protected nature reserve in Glenwood, Durban, South Africa

Pigeon Valley is an 11-hectare municipal nature reserve on the Berea in Durban, overlooking Durban Bay. Its north-south orientation gives it a south-facing slope covered in canopy forest and a north-facing slope of thorny thickets, with an adjoining reservoir providing coastal grassland.

The area was established as a critical conservation zone in KwaZulu-Natal province to protect rare species like the Natal elm. This protected status has allowed the forest and its bird populations to be safeguarded over many decades.

The reserve is named after the Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon, a species now locally extinct in the area. A volunteer group, Friends of Pigeon Valley, clears invasive alien plants and leads a public walk on the second Saturday of each month at 07h30.

The reserve is open daily from 07:30 to 16:00 all year. The entrance is on Princess Alice Avenue in Glenwood, opposite Rhodes Avenue. The Friends of Pigeon Valley lead a public walk on the second Saturday of each month at 07:30.

The reserve is named after the Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon, a species now locally extinct in Durban. Its bird list has grown to 167 recorded species, and in September 2018 the first pupae of the short-barred sapphire butterfly were found on a Natal elm there.