253 km Hiking Paths on Table Mountain

One of the aims of the project was to create safer routes so that hikers would not wander off indistinct paths and possibly get lost and need rescuing. Paths were reconstructed to keep people on them and water off, thereby achieving a strong comfortable surface that will last at “least 1000 years”. Apart from the 253 km of footpaths being repaired, reconstructed and realigned, 5.8 km of boardwalks were built through wetlands and sensitive indigenous forest.

 

When San Parks inherited the park, many paths were in a serious state of disrepair. There is a huge variety of paths, many are historic and over 100 years old, so the builders paid particular attention to details of the heritage of stonework. These paths are the backbone of the park with walking being the main activity, unlike the Kruger Park were people drive. Inspiration for the footpath project came during a visit in France where the South African delegation was very impressed by the beautiful cobbled paths. They asked who had built them. The answer was the Romans. Back home in Cape Town they decided to build footpaths with a projected 1000-year lifespan.

 

At the start of the project they worked closely with the park’s section rangers and users of the mountain, such as Meridian Hiking Club, the Friends groups and the Mountain Club, to assess and classify the existing path network, deciding which needed to be closed and which were urgent. Each park section has its own unique character of soil, views and plants.

 

(Tatler 03/09/09) Armin John, Cape Town