marko35s

Tokai will be open.

Just how bloody difficult can it be to check nothing is approaching before you open a door, it's literally half a second or less for crying out loud.

Should be fine all the way up to The Bridal Path (not had any issues at that level), it's a bit further up where the issues have been.

Er, what? There could be many reasons, certainly more valid ones than you have to drop a comment like that.

You will be okay on the trails, just don't go up to the mast on your own as all the muggings have effectively happened on a 100m stretch of the road that offers multiple escape routes. There are efforts being made to make it more secure but nothing new has been put in place yet.

Try calling Chris at Bikepark Uitsig, as far as I know he is still collecting groups of people for joint permits.

Now, almost unbelievably, available online - https://www.sanparks.org/tickets/permits/ Seems like a simple enough process (register, submit details, pay and download) with no need for photos and you can still do the discounted four person deal. I think the official announcement is due to go out in the next few days but the website is working now.

That would be me, I just roll up to the exit and wait to be let out. It may be because I am in and out quickly most of the time that I seem to get away with it. I think the paid/gated parking became a thing there because people were just parking there and not using any of the facilities and a couple of years back the restaurant there was held up when the staff arrived one morning.

Pretty sure the 'they' there is not the bikepark, I would be very surprised if any of the parking charge went to them.

Just to add to the anxiety you can add two Puff Adders spotted on Snake Eyes a few days back, one on the big right hand corner and the other handily placed at exactly where you land if you do the rock drop near the exit. Lot's of others spotted mostly on the trails above level three.

Not a route but the Bikepark at Uitsig would be fun for him.

I'm not sure why you are quoting me here. Go back to my earlier posts where I specifically state the problem comes from above the heads of the local staff, who as I said for the most part do their best in trying circumstances.

Specific to the highlighted part of your post - in discussions with park management it appears that they try to bring in external contractors or put in place an outside company for any role that they do not see as part of their core skill set. The argument being that they want to concentrate on their core tasks and not spend time and money learning how to run a restaurant for instance. As far as I am aware the company with the concession pays a rental to parks rather than parks paying them. Whether this is a good thing or not is open to debate.

TMNP has more than enough self generated revenue to fund itself properly, the fact that the revenue does not get sufficiently reinvested into the park is what leads to the poor condition of much of the infrastructure. Using that revenue elsewhere pretty much points to it being a cash cow. That said maybe they are starting to realise it is a problem - https://www.news24.com/news24/community-newspaper/peoples-post/r36-million-set-aside-to-address-decay-in-table-mountain-national-park-20230620