Marlborough Vlei
Marlborough Vlei is a seasonally wet grassland area in Marlborough, Harare. It is situated 13 km north of Harare’s city centre next to the Red Roofs, a northern extension of the low-density suburb of Marlborough. It is a well-developed wetland around 180 hectares in extent. The vlei supports a rich diversity of flora and fauna. It is made up of deep, rich, dark, heavy clay soils that hold and clean tonnes of water in the rainy season thus regulating the water flow into Gwebi River. A small stream starts at Mukwa Close on the edge of Red Roofs and flows through Marlborough Vlei into the Gwebi. The Gwebi River is a tributary of the Manyame River, flowing into Lake Manyame.[1]
Its northern boundary is the Gwebi River whose upstream catchment is fed by other important Harare vleis: the Borrowdale Vlei, Northern Vlei, Vainona Vlei, Avonlea Vlei and Ashbrittle Vlei.[1]
Gwebi comes from hairless, like a worn out kaross. It is allegorical of the sparseness of vegetation in the area from over farming. [2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Marlborough joins efforts to save Harare’s wetlands, Harare News, Published: Feb 10, 2014, Retrieved: 22 July 2017
- ↑ [Chief Information Officer, Lore and Legend of Southern Rhodesia Place Names] (Southern Rhodesia Information Service, Salisbury, 1960) Retrieved 8 November 2021"
