Towersig Hiking Trail

Hendry Fourie, a Grade VII (Standard V) teacher at the Ladismith High School got the idea of creating a hiking trail in the hills above the town. Dave Osborne from Nature Conservation got interested in the plan and they did the planning. Building of the track was started by Hendry and his Grade VII pupils and Dave later send his workers to do the building of the initial western loop of the track. Later Dave and his work team extended the track and the eastern loop and northern section were added at cost of approximately R20 000. The work took several months to complete.

Hendry carted railway sleepers, cement and water up the hill and Dave’s crew built benches at two look-out points, as well as a braai area and tables. The municipality built a bridge and erected signage.

Thereafter a name-giving competition was launched and Joan Rossouw, the Grade IV teacher, won the prize of R50 for her entry – TOWERSIG.

For some years the pupils did the maintenance once a year, but then lost interest. Louise Storm, also a teacher, compiled the booklet identifying about 30 species of plants. The pupils marked the plants by painting rocks yellow with numbers on to enable hikers to identify the plants. Unfortunately these rocks as well as other identification markers all disappeared at some stage. Hendry and Louise hoped that they might find a sponsor for the printing of the booklet, but had no luck. Hendry is of the opinion that this hiking trail was the best thing the school has ever done for the town, as it is used regularly by the locals as well as visitors to the town.