A nightmare in Mponjwane

Lesser men might have considered lobbing 40 shoes over the edge of the Rockeries that night. Which makes me wonder, just how far away were the cars parked that took them to the area?

Is this a matter of education and or appreciation for our natural heritage?

@Darkwing Dave. Sound like it could have been sponsored by Vodacom. I would say that a polite, but strongly worded letter including the images that you took, should be written to Vodaphone Maseru explaining how wrong this is, in wilderness areas in general, but even more so considering the World Heritage Site status, and that you would like to see the people involved spoken to about the gravity of the situation. In addition, that you would like a response letter stating the kind of education their staff are going to receive ito environmentally sustainable awareness.

Serious tribe wrote:

Is this a matter of education and or appreciation for our natural heritage?

It appears that this is both an inadequate education and a lack of appreciation, and is prevalent amongst our emerging middle classes around the country; Although this seems to be the first time it has happened in a remote part of the Berg, as mnt tiska says there is evidence that it happens at the hut at the Amphitheatre, and I spoke to a senior employee at isiMangaliso Wetland Park yesterday, who says the same scenario occurs over the Christmas period at their World Heritage Site: people come into the park, especially the beaches at St Lucia, and indulge in extended all-night binges involving alcohol, loud music, and various types anti-social behavior. People who were previously excluded have been coming in large numbers to the beaches on the KwaZulu-Natal coast on Boxing Day and New Years Day since 1994, but the trend over the last couple of years is more upwardly mobile citizens, and not limited to these two days over the Christmas period. This year alcohol was banned in the park (at a security checkpoint/searches at the single entrance to the town), which helped and reduced the number of drownings to four(!) but didn't eliminate the issue.

It seems that there is a mindset that believes that if you have the resources (money), you can do whatever you want, wherever you want. Somehow, this middle class needs to be taught (shown) that with freedom (social, economic, political, whatever) comes responsibility in equal measure. Nelson Mandela and other great leaders understood and portrayed this, but very few of our current political, cultural or sporting icons do, and it certainly isn't being taught at most schools.

There are doubtless many factors contributing to this issue, and without wanting to start a political debate, it has to be acknowledged that the abysmal condition of the State primary and secondary education system is at least partly to blame here. Instead of pointing fingers, perhaps we could prepare/collate some material/teaching resources on VE to use to raise awareness in schools, colleges, businesses, wherever, and each of us make efforts to try and instill a higher level of social and environmental responsibility in the people that we come in contact with. It is so easy to take for granted things we learn through what we are exposed to while growing up, when a lot of the time people just don't know what they don't know.

[rant over]

absolutely disgraceful, unbelievable this could happen in such a remote place!

I doubt I would have bee as restrained as you, i get annoyed enough with music in the KZN Wildlife campsites, i think i would loose the plot completely if i had the same problem on top of the escarpment ... personally i would have been tempted to donate 20 pairs of hiking boots to the MCC.

Please do plaster this all over Vodacom's Facebook at twitter feeds ... this has the smell of some kind of "team building" exercise.

Hard to imagine that exactly 1 month ago I was spending a night in that cave with 4 of the nicest, most experienced and respectful hikers I have ever had the pleasure of hiking with.

I feel that caves are there to be used by both visitors and locals BUT that the cave should be in the same state, if not better, than when you arrived to use it.
To read this story really makes me sad. To think of all the stories that have been told about this cave over the years... and now there is one more - but not a happy one at all.

Yes we could all go out there and do our little bit to educate and inform others, but where was common sense exercised in this episode? When is it ever a good idea to litter? If there is no evidence of an existing "fire pit", then what makes you think that it is a good idea to be the first one to make it?
I shudder to think what could have happened if this happened in the dryer months...

Grandeur wrote:

Yes we could all go out there and do our little bit to educate and inform others, but where was common sense exercised in this episode? When is it ever a good idea to litter? If there is no evidence of an existing "fire pit", then what makes you think that it is a good idea to be the first one to make it?

You're right; perhaps the extent to which common sense and respect for the environment has been disregarded in this instance (and others like it) indicates the extent to which their whole hedonistic existence revolves around attending to their own self-satisfaction, a state of being that considers the environment merely as fuel to this end, there to be used/abused. A much bigger issue than just a lack of education.

Absolutely shocking! In my opinion it boils down to selfish human nature(as has already been stated). As already mentioned, why do people litter in cities? Because they simply could not care that somebody else has to come pick it up. They don't care who, why or how, all they care about are themselves. It probably doesn't even occur to them half the time that they are doing anything wrong.
A serious moral issue.

Twits

I think it comes down to teaching children how to behave. By the time someone hits their teen years it is already hard to train behavior out of them. When I was in grade 1 we were often told to never litter. Every school I went to would make you spend an hour picking up litter after school if you ever got caught littering.

I always used to say to Hobbit that if I ever catch him dropping so much as a corner of his Bar One wrapper on the ground I would never take him hiking again (not that he ever so much as hinted that littering is ok).

Education at primary and high school, are good ideas, however what about the current crop of upwardly 'mobile' people e.g. at Vodacom and the like.

I still think a letter should be sent to them and copied to their h/o in jhb or where ever they are situated.