If you’ve promised yourself that this will be the year you’ll try to put more time aside to lend a helping hand, then this volunteer day for the Devil’s Peak path rehabilitation might be just what you need to make good on your promises.
Band together with a group of like-minded people on Saturday, 5 March 2022. “If you love Table Mountain and want to put something back into it, then please join us at the Devil’s Peak car park at 8am” said Andy Davies, admin of the ‘Friends of Table Mountain‘ Facebook group.
In a separate post, Davies expressed that Devil’s Peak is a spectacular part of Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) with incredible views of the city and the mountain. While its hiking trails may not be as popular as Platteklip Gorge and Lion’s Head, it’s used regularly by mountain users and the trails are in a neglected state due to the lack of maintenance over a number of years.
“At our meeting with the SANParks CEO in September 2020, it was agreed that SANParks would arrange for community involvement with the rehabilitation of the Devils Peak path. Unfortunately only the path up to the saddle has undergone maintenance and the path from saddle to the peak is in dire need of rehabilitation,” Davies said.
As a result, the ‘Friends of Table Mountain’ group has taken the initiative to rehabilitate this section of the trail as a community project with the assistance of the Honorary Rangers. In addition, the Batrun trail race organisers and Table Mountain Bikers have also volunteered to help.
The project covers the following:
- Procurement of materials
- Two volunteer days to transport the materials to the site and complete some basic rehabilitation
- Two weeks of work for a professional trail building team.
The budget for this project is R50 000 and the group is super stoked to have the following committed so far:
- One week of work by a professional trail building team from Table Mountain Bikers
- All materials donated by Maarten Turkstra at Axess.
“We need to raise the balance of the money through donations from all the good people who love using our beautiful mountain. So, if you are a regular TMNP user and want to contribute to this good cause, please contribute on our Quicket page https://www.quicket.co.za,” Davies adds.
If you are feeling particularly generous or are a corporate sponsor and wish to donate R1000 or more and need a SARS tax certificate, then please contact their partners, the Honorary Rangers (registered PBO), at [email protected].
Their goal is to complete the work in mid March 2022 and if you wish to partake in any of the volunteer days then please keep an eye on the FOTM facebook page.
“We plan on carrying as many logs up to the Devil’s Peak saddle and if possible doing some of the less technical work. Bring gloves, snacks, drinks and your largest backpack for the big porterage. If you have a pick, spade and/or mallet then please bring it along,” concludes Davies.
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Picture: Supplied