Dispatches
Hoerrikwaggo Trails – South Africa (South African National Parks)
March 6, 2009
On World Environment Day June 8 1998, then-South African president Nelson Mandela established what is now known as Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) in Cape Town, South Africa. The move was a definitive consolidation of 16,000 wild hectares that had previously been 3 separate conservation areas. A Natural World Heritage site, Table Mountain National Park is the backbone of the tourism economy in Cape Town – not only the most visited of all South African National Parks , but the most visited park on the entire African Continent with 4.8 million visitors in 2007. Incredibly bio-diverse, Table Mountain itself, at just under 60 sq kilometers, has at least 1,470 plant species – slightly fewer than the 1492 species in all of Britain.
Some impressive statistics, aren’t they? Truth be told, the majority of those visitors rarely stray very far into the park’s limits – most shuttle via cable car to take in the panoramic view of the city, take a few snaps and head back down into the city in time for cocktail hour. Tourist checklist: Table Mountain? Done. But the folks at TMNP understand that the vast, incredible gem in their care has so much more to offer: world class flora, fauna and photo opps galore. If they could provide visitors with a camp-to-camp hiking adventure with high quality accommodations and services that allow them to appreciate this unique resource, they’ll happily invest their vacation dollars to experience an exciting, exotic once-in-a-lifetime holiday.
This cutting-edge endeavor was dubbed Hoerikwaggo (the Khoi’san word for Table Mountain meaning, “Mountain in the Sea”) created to offer visitors a rigorous yet luxurious multi-day hiking experience. With government funds from South Africa’s Expanded Public Works Program (similar to the US’s WPA/CCC programs from the 1930s), TMNP was able to hire previously unemployed from impoverished Cape Town communities, provided them with training and jobs that helped restore and revitalize the park.
Each camp on the Hoerikwaggo trail has a visual theme that reflects the camp’s environment, designs dictated by their specific context. The first stop on our trek was an evening reception at Slangkop – a picturesque ocean side camp, complete with a white-washed lighthouse standing sentry at edge of the sea, glowing pink in the sunset. “Touching lightly on the earth” was of paramount importance in the creation of each of the Hoerikwaggo camps. New camp structures have built upon already disturbed or developed sites where teams removed alien invasive vegetation (and often using these invaders as building materials), thereby rehabilitating the location to its natural state. In addition, there are no true “permanent structures” on any site, allowing rapid recovery from human occupation should the site location ceased to be used.
Hospitality was the operative word upon our arrival. Strolling atop wooden boardwalks, edges lapped by nasturtiums, our trail guides gave us a tour of the camp, showing us our simple but incredibly well-located accommodations served by passive solar hot water heating that provide our deliciously hot showers the next morning. Toss away all your memories of freeze dried camping food – Hoerikwaggo comes with catering. Cheryl Wyngaard and her family merrily ruled the kitchen throughout our stay, serving the familiar alongside regional specialties with aplomb. In a phrase? Spice cake with creamy caramel sauce. That’ll do…
The next morning we were off on a 15 k (9.3 mile) hike. Our first stop was a visit to Silvermine Camp – a mountain themed camp that serves hikers, mountain bikers and climbers who can spend days playing on the Silvermine Crags just above the campsite or on the bouldering wall set up behind the kitchen. Onward we trekked across artistically engineered stonework paths that had been assembled by teams comprised primarily of women who had formerly lived in poverty (in 2006, Table Mountain National Park sustained almost 900 direct jobs, of which over 600 were aimed specifically at poverty relief).
We made a slow steady climb on our way to Blackburn Kloof, the trail spilling over into a rocky, windswept descent with spectacular views of Hout Bay Harbour and Sentinel Mountain (providing just a few thrilling moments of vertigo). Our guides Syndey and Thandiwe were attentive and informative, sharing their insights regarding natural history and geology along with great interpretive explanations of the incredible diversity of plantlife from a multitude of protea flowers (an indemic beauty) to medicinal plants alongside a few poisonous or spiky specimens.
At the approach to Orange Kloof, our respite for the evening, more expansive views of Cape Town come into view. Syndey and Thondiwe show us Cape Town landmarks and then point beyond the affluent, primarily white neighborhoods into Cape Flats where their families and neighbors had been moved under the Group Areas Act (also known as the Great Displacement) under apartheid. Their hands move gently along the horizon, just as they did pointing out Sentinel Point on Hout Bay Harbor, sharing stories about their homes: “Sydney’s from Mitchell’s Point, Thondiwe and Nosiviwe are from Khayalitsha, that’s Grassy Park and Lavender Hill, Zoekoe Vlei…”
Our guides are amongst the first black Africans to work as guides in Table Mountain National Park. After completing 18 months of rigorous training, they have become anomalies in their communities and are still met with disbelief by their neighbors, many of whom have never visited the park in their city, who can hardly fathom that our guides have actually spent one night, much less many nights, atop Table Mountain.
Sydney: “Not everyone has this opportunity, this good luck. We all have had to sacrifice a lot – the commitment to very hard work, time away from family, but I am so happy to come to the mountain to work – I love my office”.
Descending a trail adjacent to manicured Constancia Vineyards, we arrive at Orange Kloof – a grassy forest clearing with peaks above, the Disa River running nearby. The camp feels very like an inviting tree house laid out across a meadow – beautifully crafted structures built with extracted alien species, the buildings offer open sightlines and lots of light along with green and sustainable methods for processing fuel.
Our guides mention offhandedly, “You know this used to be a car park…”
Ridiculous but true, this beautiful green space was once a parking lot. When humanity chooses to rectify its intrusions, nature can bounce back beautifully well and Table Mountain National Park is a brilliant combination of mindful reclamation, creation and sustainable design that provides capacity building and jobs that directly benefit economically challenged communities.
Compelling, complex Cape Town can be navigated by urban guidebooks with checklists of cosmopolitan points of interest, but the truly transcendent experience is Table Mountain – “Go Hoerkiwaggo” for the only environmentally and socially responsible world class hiking adventure to ever be enjoyed within any city’s limits.
