Drakensberg Cable Car

Thanks for sharing - that letter is very blunt and to the point. Good for the writer!

Unfortunately work has been getting in the way of my reply, but that erosion of the passes thing also really bugged me. They talk as if we are solely responsible for erosion. Its almost as if they are saying that rockfalls like the one on Cleft Peak are also our fault.

At first they almost had me - I though of the horrible erosion on Mashai Pass and how many people use the pass. Then I remembered that it isn't even on the same side of the river as the path.

Also, do they really think that the locals will use their cablecar instead of the passes? After all, they are by far the biggest users of Berg passes. Perhaps a year pass with a free we-will-not-ask-for-a-passport-or-check-your-bags concession card should be given to them?

Anyway not a lot of things make me really angry, but this is one of them. It usually stems from people blaming me (or a group of people in which I am included) for something out of my control

I see on the poll we are up to 175, another 25 to hit my goal. Still only 11 pro votes.

I would like to know what the obsession is with the clump of wattle trees throughout the report?
I mean the introduction mainly tries to explain how bad the invasive trees are and implies that the cableway will solve the alien tree problem. Its just a bunch of trees in an abandoned quarry, good firewood, shouldn't be in a report of this scale as I believe it introduces bias.

Mweni is one of the wildest areas of the berg. I hope it isn't disturbed.

I shared the poll with the MCSA Magalsieberg section facebook group as well as Exploratio (University of Pretoria's adventure club), hope we get to 200.

Guardian wrote: I would like to know what the obsession is with the clump of wattle trees throughout the report?
I mean the introduction mainly tries to explain how bad the invasive trees are and implies that the cableway will solve the alien tree problem. Its just a bunch of trees in an abandoned quarry, good firewood, shouldn't be in a report of this scale as I believe it introduces bias.

It reminds me of an episode of How I Met Your Mother where they talk about "the company that makes the green fuzzy stuff on tennis balls, of course they are a big company, so they do other stuff [visuals of weapons and cutting down forests], but mostly they like the public to focus on the green stuff"

I get the feeling that the report identifies hikers as the villains and the cableway as the solution to the evil environment destroyers that are the group known as "hikers". Seeing as we are their biggest opposition, they have to make us look bad so that our views are discredited.

I also was annoyed by that. Yes they are doing a bit off good - fixing R74 and rehabilitating an old quarry. But why do we need a cablecar for these things to happen?

Guardian wrote: I shared the poll with the MCSA Magalsieberg section facebook group as well as Exploratio (University of Pretoria's adventure club), hope we get to 200.

Thanks - I see we have passed 200 today (and still only 12 votes in favour).

From here it's still a case of the more votes the better, but I am very happy to see we have had such a large reply. Over 200 becomes something we can quote and will carry some weight.

Ps. Also thanks to K-Way SA for sharing the poll earlier today

Added at 7:55PM: EKZN has also shared the poll on their fb page.

Yes, it is totally rediculous to say that hikers are responsible for erosion in the passes. Rain and snow causes much more erosion than hikers. It just shows how little they know.

This whole project is born dead. If they know anything about cable cars, they should also know that it is ONLY viable at a place that is already a popular tourist destination, with large visitor numbers throughout the year. This is not viable at all, never mind all the other negative factors relating to it. So we should not be concerned that it will become a reality!

Bergbok wrote: Yes, it is totally rediculous to say that hikers are responsible for erosion in the passes. Rain and snow causes much more erosion than hikers. It just shows how little they know.

Agreed look at what happened to Tseketseke Pass and the Xeni River leading to Cockade Pass during flash floods. nature can change an area so quickly. Those comments about hikers causing erosion and litter made me livid.
Selous

I am also against this in principle.
A further deterrent would be that, should the cableway fall into disuse, the owners be responsible for removing all structures and returning the environment to its previous state and bearing the cost thereof. There will need to be some guarantee that funds will be available to achieve this.