Ryder Malatji, a founder of MAC, says the club started in 2022 with an informal group of fourteen inexperienced hikers to the Debengeni Waterfall in Tzaneen. “We just fell in love with the adventure and enjoyed the connection with nature and decided to do it more often. From there we planned more hikes and the number of participants increased. “Currently we have more than 50 regular hikers with like-minded individuals enjoying the great outdoors and exploring the beauty that the mountains have to offer.”
The school shoe donation on Friday, January 26, was their first charity drive. “We live in tough economic times with high unemployment, so we have a large number of disadvantaged families that cannot afford school shoes or other essentials. We are planning to donate full uniforms in the near future.” He says despite efforts to involve corporate and government stakeholders, Miami Canners was the only stakeholder who responded by donating food to keep them energetic during their hikes.
He says they also donated to the Pfuna Rixaka Drop-in Centre in Ndhambi village. “Pfuna Rixaka Drop-in Centre provides food to underprivileged schoolchildren and help them with their homework after school, so we helped with some basic needs for the children,” he says. According to Malatji, MAC has five upcoming hikes planned for 2024 of which one will be a charity event.
“This year we are planning to return to Debengeni on March 23. On May 25 we are hiking the Lekgalameetse Nature Reserve, on July 27 we will be doing the Hippo Trail in Swadini followed by an adventure trip to Bilene in Mozambique on September 26 to 29. “Lastly, we will have our second charity hike on the November 30.”
