Recently, Love Our Trails founder Blake Dyason sat down with Rianet Whitehead from FANews, one of South Africa’s leading insurance publications.
At first glance, you might ask: What do trails and insurance have in common?
More than you’d think.
The conversation formed part of Global Choices’ 25th birthday celebrations. To mark this milestone, they’re sponsoring a powerful interview series titled “Gratitude: Celebrating Unsung Heroes in Our Communities.” It’s a reminder that behind every strong community are ordinary people choosing to do something meaningful.
A few months before the interview, Blake guided Global Choices CEO Pieter van der Merwe, along with family and friends, through the Cederberg. Time on the trail has a way of stripping things back to what matters: people, purpose, and presence. Global Choices has built a business around being there for others when they need it most. That same principle underpins conservation, volunteerism and trail stewardship.
It’s all connected.
Trails Are Not Just Dirt Under Our Feet
During the discussion, Blake reflected on how Love Our Trails began in 2014. What started as simple trail clean-ups has evolved into something much broader:
- Large-scale volunteer initiatives
- Outdoor education and awareness campaigns
- Collaboration with landowners
- Trail sustainability and design input
- Conversations about the economics of trails
Trails are not just recreational assets. They are ecological corridors, community connectors, economic drivers and, often, spaces of healing.
For hikers, they are freedom.
For landowners, they are responsibility and opportunity.
For conservation specialists, they are fragile systems requiring thoughtful management.
And for communities? They are shared ground.
When we start to see trails as infrastructure — social, environmental and economic — the conversation shifts. Suddenly, insurance, healthcare providers, corporates and policymakers have a role to play too.
Rethinking Value
One of the most interesting threads in the conversation was this:
What if we properly valued trails?
Not just emotionally — though that matters — but economically and socially. What if trail networks were recognised as preventative healthcare assets? What if corporates understood their role in sustaining access, maintenance and safety? What if insurance and risk conversations included proactive investment in safe, well-managed outdoor spaces?
These aren’t abstract ideas. They are practical, and possible and we are here to start the conversations.
We have to be reminded that the human thing to do, is to help, uplift and protect others and the environment around us.
Trails remind us how to be human. They slow us down. They bring us together. They challenge us. They heal us. And in caring for them, we care for each other.
We’d love you to listen to the full interview with FANews and share your thoughts.
Watch the interview here: