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The Ridge Walk Ploy
"What happens at a typical Protea Atlas Weekend Outing?"
The atlassing of the Attakwaskloof area in the Outeniqua Mountains was carried out by Tony Rebelo's shock troops from 3rd to 5th April. It was exhilarating to experience each day the breathtaking mountain and valley views and virtually alien free Fynbos with little sign of human intervention. The elimination of aliens is a tribute to the dedication and skill of Nature Conservation's Tony Marshall, who has achieved this wonderful feat by over 20 years of solid work. The extent of his success is dramatically shown by the dense grey Hakea stands which start on the other side of the reserve boundary. Those who have never attended these weekend outings or regular atlassing trips may be interested in the general pattern followed.
The trips start relatively early and set out from some designated area to sort out anomalies and record data on protea species. En route it is practice to check up on roadside sites. This is fairly painless, with fences the only minor hazard and terrain generally providing comfortable walking. The pace hots up slightly as the day progresses and you leave roads intended for cars behind to enter the world of the 4x4 and the farm tractor. Walking through the atlassing plots along the way is generally not difficult and at times the scenery can be awesomely beautiful. The only occasional stress is when the possibility enters your mind that the vehicle is going to overturn or alternatively get irrevocably bogged down in sand or mud. The bogging down is frequent. The irrevocable has yet to happen. The day usually proceeds happily and peacefully, interspersed by brief tea and lunch breaks and a steady stream of data is accumulated while life lists grow. As the sun begins to move westward however, an interesting battle of wits begins. On the one hand there is Tony, dedicated to continue recording data until visibility reduces to 1 metre. On the other hand are the atlassers whose thoughts are now beginning to stray in the direction of long, cold beers or whatever they had optimistically planned for the evening.
There are many cunning strategies adopted by Tony to atlas as long as possible, but the latest, which I have named the 'Ridge Walk Ploy' is truly masterly, as it is introduced as early as lunch time when even the most alert atlassers tend to be off their guard. The ploy was well illustrated in the case of Attakwaskloof by Tony hauling out his map before lunch and pointing out a peak that we "must climb, follow a ridge over a couple of succeeding peaks and then walk down the road where the car will be waiting for you". [I love the cosy picture that this conjures up] After some rapid estimates he pointed out that the walk measured about 8 cm on the map, equivalent to 4 km. At a snails pace of 2 km/hr this should take no more than 2 hours, or allowing for terrain, a maximum of 3. Starting at 12h30, we should be at the car by about 15h30. Ha bloody ha!! Three of us, led by the ultra fit mountain man, Ivan Massyn and backed by Sandy Smuts and myself set out cheerfully, humming little tunes and exclaiming at little finds or special views as we moved along, busily writing in our field note books. It first dawned on us that we had once again been conned, when, after an hour and a half we had only reached the top of our first peak. The three hour target was now impossible so we skipped lunch and began to brood on the following factors which Tony had blithely ignored:-
- The little wiggley contour lines on the maps are not purely decorative, but indicate that when you cross them you must perforce move either up or down. This tends to challenge the theory that 2 cm on a map is equivalent to a distance walked of 1 km. Our map was covered with little wiggley lines, disturbingly close together at times.
- No ridge is ever what it seems from below. It is never a gently undulating slope over easy ground. There are rock faces, gullies, seepages and head-high vegetation. These necessitate several detours where height lost must be regained and where from time to time the exposure is disconcerting and traverses must be 'handled with care.'
- You never just 'walk down to the road' from the top of the mountain where no path exists. You can scramble down, stumble down, struggle down, fight your way down, or in the worst case - I suppose - even fall down. Walking is not an option. Never!
For the record, the 3 hour walk took us 7 hours. As always, there was of course a happy ending. The incredible luxury of a hot shower in a converted house in the Reserve: sitting around a fire on upturned logs eating our braai and drinking red wine, hiking tales and great companionship.
David Louw
It needs to be said that Tony Marshall not only helped plan the trip, but also rebuilt roads, finished (almost) the hiking trail hut for our accommodation, and personally guided us through (even giving some comments on hiking times) what is the Doringkloof Wilderness Area and what will become a stunning Hiking Trail.
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