Trees only cost R150.00 each and you will receive an e-certificate with your name and dedication – the details of which are uploaded onto their tree planting record.
By Alan Samons
I lost my mother in October last year shortly after turning ninety – the first person in our family to do so. She went as quietly as she’d lived. One week she was still baking her famous banana loaf for her neighbours, then had a minor fall and week later she was gone.
As an only child, it was shock, especially since we were very close. Also, she didn’t want a fuss, so no funeral, just a cremation without a service. At her age, most of her friends had already passed on, and there’s nothing a dismal as an empty chapel and a preacher saying good things about someone he or she had never known.
I did a bit of research on how to commemorate her and found Platbos, a Lowland Afromontane Forest with specimen trees estimated to be well over 1000 years of age. Planting trees is a great gift idea and is ideal for birthdays, naming ceremonies and, as in my case, memorials.
Planting forest trees is a great way to give back to nature. During its lifetime, one tree will absorb and store between one to three tonnes of carbon dioxide. Current research suggests that natural, ecologically diverse forest systems are more effective as carbon sinks than monoculture forest plantations.
Trees only cost R150.00 each and you will receive an e-certificate with your name and dedication – the details of which are uploaded onto their tree planting record.
This small amount goes way beyond planting a tree: your contribution enables Platbos to re-establish forest canopy which in turn provides habitat and nurture for a wide variety of creatures, large and small. In addition, your contribution assists them in maintaining the firebreaks, and thus protecting the old growth forest and reforested areas from fire.
Trees don’t come with plaques though, as animals and the environment can easily disturb them.
And, if you’re ever in the area, you can go hiking through the forest, or stay over in a variety of pocket-friendly accommodation options.
For me though, it is heartening to know that there is a tree that will grow in the memory of my mum.
www.platbos.co.za
