Ninety percent of Cape Town’s population of three million people can see Table Mountain from their workplace or homes, yet only 2% have ever walked on it. Six years ago the Wilderness Foundation (SA) decided to change that.
Since its inception in May 1996 the Pride of Table Mountain Project — also called the Pride Project — has taken more than 5 000 youths from the Cape Flats townships for an educational day trail on Table Mountain.
“We recognised how important it was to get a project like this off the ground, but we had to make sure that it was sustainable, that sound mountain conservation practices were upheld and that it was empowering to the participants,” says the foundation’s director, Andrew Muir. The Wilderness Foundation (SA) is an NGO founded by Ian Player in 1972 to conserve wilderness areas by exposing people to them. With years of experience behind him, initially as the director of the Wilderness Leadership School, Muir and his colleagues developed a trail that was a fun outing, a conservation exercise and that challenged participants to develop their leadership skills.
To ensure the project’s sustainability, the Wilderness Foundation formed an innovative partnership with Woolworths and SA Breweries (SAB). This has provided the sustained funding of 80% of the project’s running costs through the sale of The Pride of Table Mountain spring water, bottled by SAB and retailed by Woolworths.
“This is the perfect example of a partnership where companies use their existing assets instead of donating finance. We bottle the water and Woolworths retails it,” says Jacki Lange, corporate affairs manager for SAB.
“The partnership works well because Woolworths and the Wilderness Foundation have similar values. Woolworths believes in quality products and the only way to get quality products is from a quality environment. The Pride of Table Mountain Project is all about conserving the quality of the environment, which is why we support it,” states Tom McLaughlin, environmental officer for Woolworths. On a crisp, clear winter morning, we joined 60 students from schools in Khayelitsha who had been bused in for their first-ever walk on Table Mountain. The selected route was the Silvertree trail above Kirstenbosch Gardens.
The hikes are led by enthusiastic volunteer leaders who are themselves graduates of the Pride Project. All interested students qualify for training as volunteer leaders, as long as they are committed, punctual and eager to learn. The Wilderness Foundation teaches them guiding skills, leadership and communication skills and about fauna, flora and the natural environment. Several of the volunteer leaders are so keen that they have been leading trails for four years and have chosen to pursue careers in environmental management.
After introducing themselves, the volunteer leaders divided the 60 students into two groups, gave them breakfast and explained the rules of the mountain. “No littering, keep your voices down and don’t pick any flowers,” said Lerato Kossie, who then gave a brief talk on fynbos.
“These plants were called ‘fynbos’ by the first Dutch settlers because one of the three types of fynbos, called ‘ericas’, have very fine leaves,” he explained.
Looking on was project coordinator Erica Widelko, who has been involved since the first hike. The Wilderness Foundation has similar programmes in six other areas around the country, each with a dedicated coordinator. “It takes my breath away when I see the leaders confidently organising the trails and giving talks on the trees and flowers. Lerato was so shy when he started the programme, he could hardly speak,” said Widelko.
Lulama Mzonyane from Khayelitsha first walked on the mountain a year ago and is now a leader. “You must respect nature because nature got us living,” he told the group. “Without trees and birds, we would not be here.” He has completed his matric and is about to start a horticultural course at the Cape Technikon. “My dream is to become a landscape gardener at Kirstenbosch one day.”
The Pride Project concentrates on teenagers and youths in their early 20s, but it does make exceptions. Recently a woman of 70 from the Cape Flats, who had never been up the mountain, called to ask if she might join one of the trails. She thoroughly enjoyed the outing and now tells all her friends and their children about the beautiful waterfalls, forests and fynbos she saw on the mountain.
Some way along the Silvertree trail, we stopped at a waterfall and the group leader instructed everyone to find somewhere to sit. “We are going to spend a few minutes in silence now,” he said. “This way you will feel the stillness and hear nature’s voice.”
Shutting their eyes, the students succumbed to the mountain, interrupted for a few moments by a party of British hikers loudly discussing lunch. The cacophony of human voices in the forest superbly illustrated one of the mountain codes: to keep voices down. – Southside Media