I don’t think any of us fully understood what we were saying yes to when this idea first came up in January.
After the devastating fires tore through more than 53,000 hectares of the Cederberg over December and January, many of the trails we love were closed. As they should have been. The landscape needs time. Nature heals in her own rhythm.
But as a trail community, we kept asking the same question: What can we do to help?
At Love Our Trails, we believe trail users want to help. So we reached out to CapeNature and Sustainable Ceder with a simple idea: let’s mobilise volunteers to audit the affected trails and carry out minor repairs before the winter rains arrive.
We thought maybe 40 people would put up their hands but within hours of sharing the sign-up form, more than 100 had registered.
That’s when we realised this wasn’t going to be just another volunteer weekend, this has the potential to be something far bigger.
Strangers with a Shared Purpose
By Friday afternoon (20 February), the campsite at Driehoek Guest Farm was alive with energy. Tents going up, old friends reconnecting and new friendships forming. There was a quiet hum of nerves and excitement.
We met every volunteer at registration. Tools were signed out. Equipment labelled. Teams carefully allocated. This wasn’t a casual hike with a few loppers thrown in the back of a bakkie. We had a plan.
During the official briefing, I welcomed everyone and introduced Monique Ruthenberg, Cederberg Park Manager at CapeNature. It’s rare to find a conservation authority this open to collaboration. Proactive, honest and solutions-driven.
She spoke candidly about the fires, the ecological impact, the economic pressure on tourism, and the toll on local communities and staff. She also walked us through best practice for minor trail maintenance, auditing protocols and how to move responsibly through the sensitive landscape.
We then unpacked the weekend logistics, safety protocols and importantly introduced the trail auditing app.
The app was a game changer. Volunteers could log issues with GPS coordinates, upload photographs, add voice notes, record repairs completed and generate standardised reports accessible to CapeNature.
This is how we elevated volunteering, we made it professional, structured and truly useful for land managers.
You could feel the shift in the room. This wasn’t just a weekend away. It was coordinated, purpose driven initiative.
Saturday: Into the Mountains
By 7am on Saturday, over 100 volunteers were moving through the mountains, supported by 20 CapeNature rangers. Seventeen trails were being audited and repaired simultaneously.
Behind the scenes, a small army made it all possible:
- Drivers transporting teams to remote trailheads
- Drone crews documenting inaccessible burn areas
- A basecamp team managing logistics and radio communications
- A dedicated medical and emergency oversight crew quietly ensuring we were prepared for anything
This is what “upping the game” on volunteering looks like.
By 3pm, the first teams returned, sunburnt, covered in ash, tired and smiling, knowing they contributed to something much bigger.
There is something powerful about watching people come back from a hard day in the mountains knowing they’ve contributed to something meaningful. They hadn’t just cleared drains, repaired erosion or logged damaged sections. They had made memories, friends and found purpose in collective action.
By 6:30pm, everyone was safely back at camp. Beers from Cederberg Brewery were cracked open and some volunteers took a quick swim in the river before we gathered around the potjies prepared by the legendary Justin Bonello.
That evening we shared stories around the camp fires, under a sky thick with stars.
Sunday: Finish Strong
We had set ourselves an ambitious target of 20 trails for the weekend. Quietly, we hoped to get close.
Seventeen were completed on Saturday alone.
Sunday morning, 40 enthusiastic volunteers stepped up again to tackle the final three shorter trails on Driehoek property while others planted temporary “No Entry” poles at select trailheads and collected litter along the roads.
Over delivering on what once felt like an ambitious goal.
One of the Most Meaningful Impacts
While trail teams were in the mountains, something equally powerful was happening in the surrounding communities.
Under the leadership of Sustainable Ceder, six community-led clean-ups took place across the greater Cederberg, from Langkloof to Heiningvlei. Photos streamed in throughout the weekend of bags of rubbish collected, streets cleared and a deep sense of Ubuntu shared.
In Heiningvlei, volunteers even responded to a house fire, helping prevent serious damage.
This is what collaboration looks like.
The Numbers
- 173 volunteers (trail teams, community teams, drone crews, drivers and camp crew)
- 20 CapeNature staff and rangers
- 20 trails audited and minor repaired
- 6 community-led clean-ups
- 131 bags of rubbish collected in communities
- 43 bags of rubbish collected along the road
But the real number that matters? One united trail community that showed up.
Gratitude
Weekends like this do not happen by accident.
They happen because of partnership and we want to thank each partner for their role and believing in this initiative.
To CapeNature — for your openness, tools, permits, repeater setup, ranger support and countless meetings.
To Sustainable Ceder — for your relentless commitment to the greater Cederberg community, for being a sounding board, leading the community cleanups and always being the first to help.
To Driehoek Guest Farm — for hosting us and making this possible, and the yummy wine.
To Chris Berens from Rim of Africa for developing the app and printed maps.
To Rob Nel at OmniComs Africa for radios and communications tech and being available for any medical emergency.
To Cape Leopard Trust for the PA system, transport support and heading up basecamp logistics, that was a massive task.
To Justin Bonello for the unforgettable potjies.
To SPAR Clanwilliam for food support.
To Cederberg Brewery for the beers to reward the volunteers.
To Botanical Society of South Africa – for the equipment and firefight packs that were donated.
To Table Mountain Fund for the donation that help cover hard costs to make this possible.
To the Gonzo running community, for the donations to sponsor the food for the potjie.
To Southland Coffee, – for providing each volunteer with coffee
To Stanley – For donating mugs.
To Protect Our Paths, Jonsson Workwear and Aquarius Screen Printers for stepping in to make shirts for our team leaders.
To every person who made a personal donation.
And to every single volunteer who gave up their weekend:
You showed up, and showed us what power of community can achieve.
At Love Our Trails, we believe that trails are our footpaths to connect to nature, communities and ourselves and that we all have a responsibility to protect these wild spaces. This weekend proved what’s possible when organisations, land managers, local communities and passionate individuals come together for a shared purpose.
If you’d like to support the ongoing restoration of the Cederberg, including the planting of new cedar trees during this crucial post-fire window, please consider supporting Sustainable Ceder.
Please give Love our trails a follow on socials, we will be sharing videos, pictures and future initiatives.
