Heritage Cases

Platform A site: The site occurs within a State Forest but is largely taken up by plantation trees and is considered to be relatively degraded as a consequence of historic forestry activities. Plantation trees were recently felled and newly-planted trees occur at the site. The site lies above a cliff, below which exists natural forest which will not be impacted in any way by the activities. Access to the Platform A site is taken by way of a jeep track along the edge of the plantation, while an existing footpath links the existing abseil point to the forestry road. A small additional footpath a few meters long will be needed to provide access from the jeep track to the platform. Platform B site: The site is situated on a grassy embankment near the visitor’s parking area which is used for accessing the Madonna and Child Waterfall. The proposed landing site is entirely accounted for by lawn and appears to contain no conservation-worthy vegetation. Access is taken on foot from the parking area and across the lawn. The zipline will be 380m long and will lie above the canopies of the trees along the route. However, once the newly-planted trees at the departure site have matured in approximately 10 to 15 years, the tops of the trees will require lopping to ensure that they remain below the zipline. This management aspect has been discussed with the Amathole Forestry Company and an agreement will be reached to ensure that the trees do not interfere with the zipline, and vice versa. The line will be located about 110 m out from the top of the Madonna and Child Waterfall. At point A, it is proposed to build a small (5m x 4m) wooden structure/shed to store zipline equipment and harnesses. At point B, it is proposed to construct a wooden landing platform of about 3m x 3m. The line would be anchored via drums filled with concrete on each end such that no ground excavation would be required beyond flattening the surface for the drums to stand on.