By Staff Reporter
BOKGAGA- Healthy lifestyle and regular exercising motivated Jonathan Ramathoka (68), a former principal at Bessie Maake High School to climb Marobong mountain.
Ramothoka was amongst the 200 people who climbed the mountain on Heritage Day, with only one mission, to impart his knowledge about the environment and indigenous plants that are found on the mountain.
Talking exclusively to Tzaneen Voice, Ramathoka said “The tree that you see around here is part of our heritage, that is why it’s important to share this knowledge with young people so that they can protect it for the future generation”
The former principal who served the teaching profession for 29 years as an Agriculture teacher says he would like to come up with a campaign that will label the tree for educational purposes.
Some of the plants that were discovered on the mountain were the protea flowers.
“The Protea flower is the national flower of South Africa hence their cricket team is called proteas,” he said.
Meanwhile one of the participants Mpho Maake said taking part in the hiking brought him closer to nature, something he rarely experiences.
According to the Bakgaga Hiking Club event coordinator Frank Mmakau, the annual event is part of the strategy to position Bokgaga village as a recognized tourism destination.
He further said that by organising this kind of activities, they are responding to a call by Limpopo Tourism Authority chief executive officer Nomasonto Ndlovu who once said:
“We need the youth to take Limpopo to the world. We need to push for business events that will bring people to Limpopo. Host people that will want to hold conferences under our trees instead of boardrooms.
“Show the world that we are a unique rural destination.”
Mmakau says even though it took the organizers a few days to put together the event because of COVID-19 restrictions but they are happy with the turnout.
“For us to see a turnout of 200 it is a massive achievement considering the fact that we started with only 60 participants last year,” he said.
Mmakau appreciated Wisani Burial Society for sponsorship, however, he is calling on all businesses to support the event.
“As we plan for another hiking in December, we need every community member to participate and also people who are coming very far to join us on December 16,” Concluded Mmakau.
