On Saturday 6 May, a group of 54 Grade 9 learners from Cedar High School attended a hike in the Atlantis Dunes as part of the Decision Affects Destinies (DAD) programme.
The he hike follows the first in the Strandfontein area, where an open call was put to youth in the area to join the initiative. This will be followed by another hike on Saturday 3 June.
For the next hike, Neighbourhood Watch members from the ward will be tasked with selecting participants.
The series of hikes are funded by ward allocation budget of R80 000 from the City.
For this hike, the Atlantis Dunes was selected for its location.
“The Witsand Nature Reserve is quite a beautiful location,” says Ward 81 councillor, Ashley Potts.
“It was an absolutely beautiful experience for the learners. They thoroughly enjoyed it and did not want to get off the dunes. It was quite a short walk, we spent about an hour and 20 minutes on the hike.
“The rest of the time was used for a bit of education.”
The hikes are organised by the Nature Conservation Environmental Centre based at the Weltevreden Recreation Centre in Rocklands.
The learners were given a brief history of the dunes, introduced to the flora and fauna of the area as well as fossils found in the vicinity.
“The next hike will be in a different location and opened to a new group as well. Some of these learners will repeat, but others between the ages of 12 to 18 will be selected by the neighbourhood watch.
“This will also be done to create some sort of sustainability, where they can reconnect with them again after the hike,” says Potts.
Each participant receives a pre-hike bag with refreshments for the hike, and a lunch after the hike. The allocation includes travel by bus and the procurement of compasses for education and binoculars for bird watching.
