14 eager hikers joined the hike to the top of Table Mountain to celebrate the Season of Creation, spending the night on the top of the mountain in the People’s Trail hut. Members represented three Dioceses of Cape Town, Saldanha Bay and False Bay
The hike was led by Sanparks tour guide Johan who has a passion for the mountain. He educated us about the various plants that grow there and even showed us from what vegetation the khoi people used to create their bows and arrows. The knowledge shared was for many an eye opener, as he spoke about which ones are poisonous, which ones were used for ointments and medicinal purposes and even those that that grow to protect other flowers.
Saturday the 7th saw temperatures reaching a high of 35C which made the climb all the more strenuous on the climbers, this made water a vital necessity for the climb up. We started early Saturday morning gathering at Constantia Nek, and then distributed the food amongst the members to carry up, fortunately we were saved by the rangers from that burden as they transported the groceries up to the cabin for us. This took a lot of weight off our shoulders, which came to the relief of everyone.
The beauty of nature was amazing, however the focus on the nature changed quickly to focusing on making it to the accommodation on top. Though some struggled it was evident that we had a group of individuals that had a no die attitude, which was very enlightening to some as we reflected on the hike the evening during evening prayer which was led by Bino Makhalayane.
Before we had evening prayer a small group took a walk to the famous Kasteelspoort ledge to take photos and then went to watch the sun set. This was a very magical experience as we were in awe of God’s hand upon creation.
After evening prayer we had supper which was prepared by the tour guides which was amazing and for which we were most grateful. After supper Rev Rachel then led us in a game of 30 seconds which brought about a lot of enjoyment and laughter.
As it got later everyone made their ways to the rooms and we called it a night. The next day everyone was up early to refresh themselves as we also prepared a fire for breakfast. During this time on Sunday morning Rev Rachel led us in the Sunday Eucharist where we shared in communion on top of Table Mountain, which was something really special.
We would just like to say a special thank you to Table Mountain National Parks for their assistance and to the tour guide and his helpers. Looking forward to doing again in the future. Many thanks to @CTEET john- Paul Roberts
Kagisho Petlho reflected on the overnight hike “the weekend on the hike has shown me that as the future generation of tomorrow we have all that might take to start what we call the better change and brighter tomorrow. It all start with me to make the difference within my surrounding and I am the influence to the people surrounding me, I had learned that it might not be easy but if I stay constantly changing my behavior towards the creation and influencing others will be way simple as it will be a good lifestyle on cutting down on use of plastic and planting more fruit trees and verges as will not be only thinking about today and tomorrow but the future generation to benefit… being on the heart of Table Mountain nature reserve and seen it fresh and clean without a single plastic was a breath taking and seen on how the we as humans need to think positive towards mother earth and be the mustard seeds… I am the salt of the earth #Iamagreenanglican.”