Heuningvlei Planting Day – 23 August 2025

On a cold and windy Saturday morning, around 60 people, including members of the Heuningvlei community, gathered at Heuningvlei Lodge for a long-awaited cedar tree planting day. The event was hosted by CapeNature in collaboration with Sustainable Ceder, Bushmanskloof Wilderness Reserve and Retreat, Just Trees, and Negative Carbon Solutions (NCO2), together with the Heuningvlei community.

The event began with a warm welcome from Monique Ruthernberg, Conservation Manager of the Cederberg Complex, followed by Dawie Burger’s introduction of Sustainable Ceder and a brief overview of the project, highlighting its importance to Heuningvlei.

After the introductions, and despite the cold, windy, and rainy conditions, everyone remained enthusiastic to plant cedars. Due to the wet weather, we were allowed to drive closer to the planting site above Heuningvlei, toward Krakadouw.

A few brave volunteers, well prepared for the weather, hiked to the site. Fortunately, the skies cleared just long enough for us to plant around 200 cedar saplings before the rain started again.

After planting, we returned to the lodge, where Daleen and the community treated us to freshly made roosterkoek, along with soup generously donated by Bushmanskloof Wilderness Reserve and Retreat, a perfect way to end a challenging but productive morning.

As the day drew to a close, the wind calmed, and Andries Louw, founder of Negative Carbon Solutions (NCO2), gave us a hands-on demonstration of how the drone works and how its payload system is set up to drop cedar plugs. He then gave the group a drone flight demonstration, assisted by Denvill Zass, one of our local planters.

We are thrilled to have hosted another cedar planting event at Heuningvlei, and a special thank you goes to Penny Mustart, whose past work with Bushmanskloof and CapeNature motivated us to make this event happen. We are also deeply grateful to everyone who joined, braved the weather, and helped make the day a success.