The Palmiet Nature Reserve is located in Westville which forms part of the eThekweni (Durban) Metro Region of South Africa. The reserve and river is named after the riverine plant Prionium serratum (Palmiet) which was formerly abundant in the area.
The Palmiet Valley was well known to the original families from Germany who settled here in 1848. It was through this wild rugged valley that they travelled to attend church or to visit friends in neighbouring New Germany. The route followed the present day Old New Germany Road, which is now the starting point of the Palmiet Trail into the Nature Reserve. An interesting description of the Palmiet Valley is given in the book "Letters of a Natal Sheriff" edited by R.N. Currey. It appeared in the"Natal Witness" on the 11th April 1851 written by Thomas Phipson. He describes the road between Durban and New Germany:
"One piece of landscape on a small scale struck us most forcibly. It was a retired gorge or ravine shut in on one side by overhanging cliffs, and barely accessible on the other by a descent as steep as a ladder. In the bottom ran a gurgling stream of cool and limpid water; while all around thick wood, in many places quite safe from apprehension of the axe, hung over and enclosed the grey rocky glen" (Thomas Phipson 1851)"