SANParks reopens hiking trails months after devastating fire

Visitors to the newly rehabilitated hiking trails at Table Mountain National Park have expressed appreciation for the work done to restore the park.

The Table Mountain National Park has reopened several trails at its Silvermine facility near Tokai, following a devastating fire in April this year.

About 2 800 hectares of vegetation, including the sensitive fynbos and other infrastructure, were severely damaged.

One visitor says it has taken months of waiting, “It’s very good to be back, it’s sad to see so much has burnt, but it’s so lovely to see all the green coming through for spring, definitely. We bring our dog here and we actually live in Noordhoek, so we watched all those fires and we mountain bike, so it’s good to see all those trails open for us.”

Another adds: “We are very excited, we live on the other side of the mountain, and the day before the fires we renewed our cards to come up here. On the day of the fire, we were getting ready to come up for a walk and then we started to see the smoke and we were like, oh, maybe we were not going to go up. That day everything burnt down, so it’s very nice to be back here.”

VIDEO | Table Mountain re-opens several Silvermine trails after fire: