Buck up, hikers

I recently returned from hiking the mighty Fish River Canyon, something I’ve always had on my bucket list. It was such an amazing experience; the beauty of the trail along the river (which luckily had water) is indescribable. We took some of the short cuts and hiked through the hard and hot desert terrain. But we were left a little peeved at the lack of care by other hikers for the rules. On signing the forms upon entry, hikers are required to declare that the conservation of nature will be a priority when visiting the hiking trail or conservation area. The contract explicitly states: ‘I undertake not to pollute the environment in any way, which could include discarding tins, paper, bottles or tinfoil linings in burnt out fires, etc. Toilet paper will be burnt or deeply buried. Everything carried into a wilderness area will be carried out and I will encourage other eco-tourists and hikers to do the same.’ It is so unfortunate that people ignore that and leave litter in this environment. We came across so much rubbish along the way, especially at the camping spot. We burnt what we could, removed the aluminium and picked up tins and rubbish along the way that could not be destroyed and carried it with us to Ai-Ais. The sad and inevitable part is that we could not clean up everything we found to leave the canyon as pristine as we were hoping to find it. If you are not planning to carry your litter, especially tins and aluminium, don’t bother taking these products but rather those that have burnable packaging. Come now, hikers, let’s not destroy the beauty.