“Take a Hike Day” is back this November

Table Mountain Aerial Cableway (TMACC) is again celebrating International Take a Hike Day. This time it is scheduled over three days to accommodate the possible impact of adverse weather conditions.

“Starting Wednesday 16 and ending Friday 18 November, we are appealing to everyone to take a hike up the mountain and spend some quality time on the various trails. While you are doing this, we invite you to collect the rubbish which has been left behind by some irreverent individuals which tarnishes the image of our New7Wonder of Nature site,” says Wahida Parker, Managing Director of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company.

Take A Hike Day, she explains, is an international event. When TMACC hosted the event in 2021, it saw 310 hikers take part and collect 28,5kg worth of trash and litter. This is the third time that TMACC will host a Take a Hike Day event.

“Colloquially, the day’s name might encourage people to ‘go away’. We have refashioned it to be a call to action and to serve as a reminder of how fortunate we are to be surrounded by so much natural beauty. With this blessing comes the responsibility to care for and maintain the site in a pristine condition and ultimately preserve it for future generations.

“This initiative talks to the values which underpin our organisation, namely working collaboratively because it is our shared responsibility to preserve this heritage site for future generations. We as custodians take it upon ourselves to leave this incredibly beautiful yet vulnerable space better than we found it. And ultimately, we believe in doing the right thing not because we must but because we want to,” says Parker.

The mountain clean-up is set to take place from 7.30am to 3pm and will begin at Platteklip Gorge hiking trail towards the top of Table Mountain, where you will be able to discard of your trash at the Twelve Apostles Terrace.

Everyone who takes part will receive a light snack pack and some water and a bin bag at the start of Platteklip Gorge while they will be issued a free ticket down. You are free to choose any of the other trails too. The last cable car will depart at 17:00.

“We encourage everyone who shares our commitment to avail themselves on the day,” says Parker.

When planning their hike, hikers should take factors such as the bad weather into consideration. The weather can change very quickly, no matter which season of the year. One of the best things to do is to check the weather the day before and the morning of your hike to make sure it’s safe.

Parker offers some more tips:

·         Check-in and checkout; Tell somebody where you are going and how long you expect to be.

·         Stick to the route you have researched and plan to hike.

·         Every party should have a leader. The larger the group the greater the need for one.

·         Keep together and travel at the pace of the slowest. Do not split up and go in different directions.

·         Do not wear jewellery or take other non-vital valuables with you.

·         Watch the weather and time, turn back in case of threatening bad weather.

·         Know what to do in an emergency.

·         Save the emergency numbers on your phone.

·         Download the Trigger app – it could help locate you in the event of a mishap

She also offered these interesting facts about Table Mountain:

• • • The highest point of Table Mountain is 1 086m (3 563 feet) above sea level. It’s called Maclear’s Beacon after the man who built a stone cairn at the site in 1865. The beacon was built for a trigonometric survey;
    • Today there are more than 350 trails to get to the top of Table Mountain;
    • The cableway that transports visitors to the top was built in 1929. The capacity of the first cable car was 25 people;
    • Hoerikwaggo – ‘Mountain in the Sea’ – is the original name given to the mountain chain by the indigenous Khoisan people of the Cape;
    • The most common animal found on the mountain is the rock hyrax or dassie, a mammal that resembles a guinea pig;
    • Table Mountain is thought to be one of the oldest mountains in the world. The rocks of the mountain are approximately 600-million years old. The rocks at the base of the mountain are shale and the rocks at the western side are Cape granite;
    • Table Mountain is 240-million years old, and is one of the oldest mountains in the world (The Alps are a relatively youthful 40-million years old);
    • Table Mountain was once three times higher than its eroded remnant form today.

Valuable operational updates about the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company can be found on social media.

Source: Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company