Hikers reclaim mountain after savage attack
AFTER the horrific attack during which nine hikers were stabbed and injured on the Kalk Bay trail near Silvermine, a group of hikers walked the trail yesterday to reclaim the mountain.
Taahir Osman and the “Take Back Our Mountains” crew hiked the trails of Silvermine Nature Reserve in aid of the nine hikers who were victims of crime.
“It is sad that one cannot walk on these mountains without being attacked. There have been so many attacks in the past few weeks. What happened to the nine hikers was wrong and cannot be unjustified. I feel that we need more mountain rangers to be visible,” said Osman.
Two men, who appeared to have joined the nine hikers on the Silvermine trail stabbed some of them. Nobody died, but the stabbing victims were seriously injured. The incident is one of several during this month.
“The idea came about when I first started hearing about all the attacks on the mountains,” Osman said.
The group would be hiking until the mountain was a safer place, he said.
“I will be walking on all the hot spot mugging areas to reclaim our mountains from these criminals. These hikes are to prove a point to show that we can unite and stand up ruthless thugs targeting innocent hikers on our mountains.”
Osman has been hiking since the age of 12. “I was able to get a lot of people together and hope to get more involved for future hikes. About 90 people pitched for this one.”
Lion500 ambassador Kosta Papageorgiou said the Take Our Mountains hike was exactly what was needed.
He said this would get the ball rolling for what must become a continuous and sustainable effort from the entire Cape Town community.
“We advertise ourselves to the world with our beauty, but we need to show the world that we have depth in soul and pride ourselves in our togetherness and taking care of each other,” Papageorgiou said.
“I commend Taahir and his friends on their efforts and would like to work with them through the Lion500 project to send a strong message to the authorities and those with evil intentions that we will win back and bring peace to these mountains.
“I will continue to be an avid supporter of this campaign so that we can make hiking safer for everyone,” he added.
The next hike will take place within the next two weeks. Call Osman on 073 624 4287 for more information.