High Altitude Team on the rope

We've had the government sponsored High Altitude Team (to eradicate alien invasive plants in unreachable places) at the estate for some months now. But the absence of a safety officer has kept them off the ropes because the cliff areas in the Upper Majubaan gorges, where we have started the eradication programme, do not have suitable anchor points. They have then been operating as a ground team, clearing aliens from the river and slopes, with good progress.

The problem with the team is that, with their absailing qualifications, they are quickly snatched up by the private sector where salaries are much larger. So, this week we lost another chunk of the team. With only four guys left, I thought we should put them, for the first time, on the ropes on a cliff that sorely needed attention.

The cliffs below Unit 18 in the Steenkamps Valley are heavily infested with Wattle and the trees are becoming seed bearers. There are plenty of anchor points from the house itself so a safety officer was not neccessary.

What a pleasure to see those Wattles falling...