People were pretty upset when SANParks closed down Lion’s Head in January for renovations.

Still, better safe than sorry. No Instagram shot is worth falling to your death off of Table Mountain.

Unfortunately, the contractors they got to do the work didn’t do a very good job.

This became apparent to SANParks when hikers started posting pictures of the trail to social media, complete with badly maintained and rusted chains, nails and ladders.

Table Mountain Watch shared a number of snaps on Facebook, which you can see below.

Here’s CapeTalk with a response from SANParks:

Head of Communications at SANParks, Wanda Mkutshulwa says the photographs were taken from an area that has been cordoned off due to unsatisfactory work by the contractor.

He says they are waiting for the contractor to come back and fix the concerned areas as well as grant them a certificate which states that the area is safe for public use.

“It is not yet completed. We are also not happy and that is why we have said he must come back and bring with him an engineer of a person who can certify that it is safe to use.”

Mkutshulwa says that SANParks reopened parts of the mountain following complaints from people that the trail was closed.

“Lion’s Head is a tourist attraction…so we thought let us open Lion’s Head because there is part of the mountain that people have been using which is fairly safe and can avoid the area with shoddy work.

We don’t want tourists to come here and leave having not ticked a box in their itinerary.”

Yeah, we also don’t want them to leave in a body bag, or needing costly rescues from various points on the mountain.

The incomplete “dangerous” area has been marked with red tape and will now be policed by someone who will direct hikers along safer paths.

Yes, the dreaded ‘tender’ question has been raised:

MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, Beverly Schafer says it is concerned that SANParks has awarded the tender to a company incapable of doing the job.

“I would really like to caution SANParks that they going to have to ensure that the area is safe and that they have not compromised on safety with these upgrades.”

Basically, the combination of people who are impatient and want a hiking trail NOW, and shoddy workmanship, is leading to further delays.

For now, here’s where you can and can’t hike, courtesy of The South African.

The footpath on the north facing slope from the Kramat leading up to the spiral trail will remain closed for further rehabilitation as a result of January’s fire. The following map shows the open and closed paths:

Stay safe out there and follow instructions.

Oh, and apparently some people need reminding – red tape means no entry.

[source:capetalk&southafrican]