Cape Town - Friends of Table Mountain (FOTM) have started a project to repair worn out hiking pathways along the Devil’s Peak trail that have eroded with time, and to raise funds to purchase materials and equipment to repair the popular trail.
Chairperson Andy Davies said months before they took on the challenge to rehabilitate the path, members met and engaged with SANParks to collaborate on the project.
“We met with the SANParks CEO in September 2020 and agreed that SANParks would arrange for community involvement with the rehabilitation process.”
However, after no visible action was forthcoming from SANParks, his organisation decided to take charge of the initiative and repair the trail with the support of volunteers and the community, Davies said.
“Trails on Table Mountain National Parks are undergoing significant erosion. After realising that SANParks was not going to rehabilitate the paths as discussed, saying that it was due to lack of funds because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, we knew we needed to do this.
“We officially started rehabilitation efforts last weekend, but we had been fundraising for it for some time before that. On our first day, we had many volunteers join us, carrying logs up to where we needed them, and it was a successful day.
“We plan to finish the project mid-March, but we are excited by the level of support we have received so far, and I think more is to come,” he said.
Prior to the official launch of the project, the mountain user's forum was able to facilitate the donation of all materials from Axess managing director, Maarten Turkstra, and one week of work by a professional trail-building team from Table Mountain Bikers.
Friends of Table Mountain is still running its fund-raising efforts, if you would like to support the initiative please visit: https://www.quicket.co.za/fundraisers/165198-devils-peak-trail-rehabilitation/
nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za