Walkers have encountered with delight, rock art painted by local artists along a new stretch of Stanford’s Wandelpad. As Stanford’s environmental team began rehabilitating this long stretch of neglected land bordering the Melkbos Private Nature Reserve, appreciation has expressed itself in art.
The newly named Mountain View trail forms part of Stanford’s Wandelpad, popular with locals and tourists alike, which is a 6km trail along the Klein River and around the village’s border. While the listed invasive Eucalyptus are slowly being harvested, a meandering rock-lined trail has been created through them. As with any derelict piece of land, it was littered with glass shards, litter and builder’s rubble, which has now been cleared. At the top of Queen Victoria street, locally indigenous groundcovers and shrubs have also been planted.
Apart from the rock art, walkers are also likely to encounter African Hoopoe, tortoises and catch a glimpse of the new additions to the Bontebok herd in the reserve.
Local artists Oliver Bosman captures small creatures in beautiful detail. Other artists including Linda Bosman, Su Wolf and Tracy Paton have joined in the decorations. Walking the trail encourages one to look down to spot a delicate outline of a centipede drawn on a rock, and up to see the handmade spiders’ webs.