Springstygbeugel

What was meant to be a three-day hike to Springstygbeugel and exploration of the area, turned into a curtailed two-day trip for me in a surreal turn of events. Paul had invited some MCSA Stellenbosch members, completed and lodged the CapeNature safety forms for us to be able to traverse CapeNature property to the MCSA-owned Springstygbeugel*. We had done this same hike some years before, eventually summiting Slanghoek Peak.

The hike in was fairly uneventful. The trail is heavily overgrown in places and the bridge over a side stream is no more, waiting for a contractor to replace it apparently. Black wattle and Long-leafed wattle still infest the area near Gawie se Water. Higher up on the way to the watershed next day, we would find plenty of Hakea and Pine steadily colonising the slopes. We removed a few in the more inaccessible places.

Although rain was forecast and the sky threatened, we spent a quiet night at the MCSA’s lower campsite, just inside the border separating it from CapeNature’s property. The ground is flat and water is close by.

Day 2’s forecast was also for rain, and under intermittent low cloud we headed up the Wit River valley to the watershed. Paul’s mission was to find a route to Groot Wellington Sneeukop, so we traversed north over difficult terrain to discover a narrow, bridge ridge across the top of Hoekskloof. “The crux” as Paul exclaimed; mission accomplished. However, the cloud coming in from the north dissuaded us from attempting what would have been a difficult and rough ascent to the peak.

Paul’s next mission was to recover a walking pole that he had dropped into a crevice some ten years previously on the way down from Slanghoek Peak. Two of us left Paul and Wessel to find the pole (which they did, remarkably, requiring rope) and headed back down to camp. This is where things got surreal …

As our camp came into sight, we realised that our tents were no longer visible and saw some figures in high-viz vests apparently packing stuff up. After almost breaking my leg in an effort to get to them before they marched off with our gear, we found three CapeNature rangers stuffing all our possessions into bags – and demanded to know what the hell they were doing. Apparently, the (newish) Central Landscape Manager had been hiking close by and had called out the rangers to confiscate “illegal” hikers’ gear. Of course, we were indignant, having gone about submitting the safety forms to two CapeNature officials, one of whom is the reserve manager, well in advance in time-honoured MCSA fashion, and as always, without a reply from CapeNature. Clearly, in time-honoured CapeNature fashion the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing. Eventually Paul pitched up to further explain the situation. The Landscape Manager had already made off with my flysheet which would render my tent useless for the expected wet night, and a few of the others’ things.

Now, it is commendable that the Landscape Manager is actually hiking on the landscape she is responsible for, and it is also commendable that CapeNature is clamping down on illegal access (except at places like Kromrivier pool where the problem is really bad; by contrast targeting real hikers in this area is easy pickings), BUT it is hugely irresponsible to confiscate and remove mountain hikers’ gear, while not knowing who, how many and where they are. It could be the difference between life and death in the Boland mountains.

So, with no serviceable tent I decided to hike out with the rangers, recovered my flysheet in their bakkie, and they then apologetically drove me the last few kilometres to my bakkie. I rolled into Rooiels well after dark.

* According to Coen Calitz, writing in the MCSA Stellenbosch Section’s newsletter no. 262, spring 2010, Springstygbeugel is so named because farm labourers from Worcester used the route to visit friends and family in Wellington, requiring a stirrup (“stiebeugel”) suspended on a leather thong (“riem”) to swing across a particular crack. Furthermore, to reach the thong, they had to jump (“spring”). Hence, “springstygbeugel” …

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