Newly planted indigenous trees rise against bark stripping in Cape Town

Thousands of centuries-old indigenous trees in the Newlands Forest have been dying from pervasive, illegal and unsustainable bark stripping. Stripped bark is typically used for rope, dyes and paints, canoes, and by traditional healers for cultural and medicinal purposes.

On its ancient trees you can see the scars with patches of missing bark, sometimes circling the entire trunk, a practice known as ring-barking that serves as a death sentence.

This illegal bark stripping, driven by a market where a single piece can sell for between R100 and R200, is killing 100-year-old, seed-bearing indigenous trees and disrupting the forest’s natural regeneration. 

The problem has become so widespread that, according to Niel Williamson, co-founder of the Newlands Forest Conservation Group, “there’s actually no part of the forest that hasn’t been affected”.

Williamson told Daily Maverick they have been concerned about the bark stripping and the impact on the forest for years and that it seemed to increase around the Covid-19 pandemic.

While acknowledging the need for traditional medicines and bark for cultural uses, Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) manager Megan Taplin told Daily Maverick that responsible harvesting was needed to prevent the demise of the trees and the long-term health of the forest.

When too much bark is removed, particularly through “ring barking,” the tree dies, impacting potentially hundred-year-old, seed-bearing trees and disrupting the forest's natural regeneration. 

For years, the response focused on enforcement, but the demand for bark for traditional medicine persisted. Now, SANParks is using an integrated strategy to try to heal the forest from the ground up, with those who might be using the bark.

“There is no point just doing the law enforcement actions when the demand is still going to be there,” explained Taplin. “We have to make sure that we deal with it in an integrated way.”

TMNP approached various stakeholders including the Sugarbird Trust, Newlands Forest Conservation Group and the City of Cape Town to begin conversations about collecting seeds, germinating those seeds and replanting them in areas that had been most affected by bark stripping. 

Now it’s got to this point where seeds have been collected in the forest, which were propagated in nurseries, and planted in the areas which have been most affected by bark stripping. The first planting began on Friday, 20 June 2025 along the Woodcutter’s Trail.

Donovan Antonie, section ranger for Newlands Forest, told Daily Maverick: “They remove up to 90% and in some cases 100% of the bark, stripping from the bottom up… That’s the crucial part of the tree and kills the trees at the end of the day.”

Antonie said they have been trying to put proactive measures in place to reduce the loss of these trees. This includes raising awareness of the problem, painting trees with watered-down PVA paint to deter bark strippers, and law enforcement to apprehend bark strippers.

In the past three months there have been four arrests in Newlands. 

Read more: Painting the future: How an actuary is transforming Newlands Forest’s fight against poaching

Read more: Taking a holistic view to create a new narrative around bark stripping in Newlands Forest

The seedling planting on Friday indicated a stronger shift in SANParks’ multipronged approach that moves beyond mere law enforcement – including intelligence gathering and proactive solutions such as painting mature trees.

Now they have begun seed collection and planting indigenous trees in affected areas and are working with traditional healers to create awareness and find sustainable solutions. 

Day of planting: A ritual of restoration

The trek up to the Woodcutter’s Trail in Newlands Forest on Friday for indigenous tree planting with traditional healers from the Traditional Healers Organisation (THO), SANParks and conservation organisations was a wet and muddy journey through a richly shaded forest. 

The trail began with a steady uphill climb, winding through indigenous forest on a well-worn path that can be rocky and uneven in places, especially after rain. The group gathered to begin the first phase of indigenous seedling planting. 

More than 50 seedlings were planted. But before the planting began, traditional healer Jongwa Mdumata performed a ritual to bless the day’s activities. Mdumata said they came to appreciate the natural environment that surrounded them, with plants and trees that were designed to sustain humanity and the earth.

“Let us preserve the natural environment amongst us,” he said.

Hipor Hlathana, coordinator of the Traditional Healers Organisation’s Langa branch, was part of the tree-planting efforts and has been a traditional healer since 2008. She explained that they use tree leaves and roots to heal the nation, but that they looked forward to learning more about sustainable ways of harvesting these materials.

“Families have got trees that belong to them. Part of the trees that belong to families is the Umnquma (Wild Olive tree) at Table Mountain, you cannot do any cultural event without a branch of it. But we know it is very scarce, so they are now going to equip and empower us more on how to harvest it because from generation to generation, we are still going to do cultural ceremonies,” said Hlathana.

Umnquma is still going to be needed by generations to come, so Hlathana said it was their duty to ensure that it is harvested sustainably.

Hlathana said that they needed more knowledge and information on how to do the harvesting for their medicine, and that they needed to find a way to balance conservation with cultural practices.

Workshops with traditional healers are planned to discuss challenges and explore sustainable harvesting methods, hopefully ensuring the forest’s preservation while respecting traditional practices.

The traditional healers from THO who helped in the planting with SANParks were not the ones coming to the forest to strip the bark, but Taplin said they might be using the products and not know that it was unsustainably harvested and harming the environment.

Replanting and future-proofing the forest

Trevor Adams, based at the Cape Research Centre, provided further insight into the seedling planting process. With a horticultural background, Adams and the Biodiversity Social Projects (BSP) team have been diligently collecting and germinating seeds. 

He clarified that the plants being introduced are seedlings, not mature trees, since they are taking “baby steps” to see what works best. 

The seedlings, including Cape Beech, Wild Almond, Bladder Nut and Cape Olive, are strategically planted, with taller, slower-growing trees placed next to faster-growing “pioneer trees” to provide support, structure and shade, mimicking natural forest growth patterns.

Taplin said: “This is just the first such initiative of replanting in areas where they have been affected by bark stripping, where trees have died off, and there will be more in future.

“We need to try and curb illegal activities in the park… It’s not so easy to contact the bark-stripping groups, because they’re aware that they’re doing an illegal activity, and they’ll try not to be found.

“But that’s why we want to engage with more traditional healers, so that they can make sure that where they are buying the bark from, it was sustainably harvested or harvested with a permit, instead of illegally harvested.”

Looking ahead, SANParks plans to initiate a “cultural demands survey” within the park to identify the various groups using Table Mountain National Park and the purposes of their visits, encompassing cultural, religious and recreational activities. 

While recreational users are well understood, there is a recognised lack of information about cultural, religious or spiritual uses, and new groups are continually being identified. 

Taplin said that understanding these diverse uses, including specific needs such as the requirement for fire in ceremonies or the use of particular plants, was crucial. 

She said the gathered information will enable SANParks to develop strategies that allow these needs to be met safely and sustainably within the park, fostering a collaborative approach rather than relying solely on apprehension for illegal activities. DM