Every Sunday, Sarah Charlton joins other volunteers of Friends of Melville Koppies, learning about the plants and grasses that make the landscape unique while helping to remove invasive species that threaten its delicate ecosystem.

Charlton, who has lived in Melville for 22 years, first developed her connection with the Koppies through walks with her dogs on Melville Koppies East. What began as a love of the landscape eventually grew into a desire to help protect it. Today, she does a little bit of everything – from joining the Sunday morning weeding team and helping at reception to assisting on hikes and organising community events.

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Much of her time is spent learning from experienced volunteers about the indigenous plants and invasive species found on the Koppies. “We spend a lot of time taking out blackjacks,” she said, explaining that the work is important to protect the grasslands.

Charlton is also a keen birder and has helped guide the 8km Sunday hikes, keeping an eye on those at the back of the group and assisting anyone who becomes tired or needs help returning to their vehicles. For her, however, volunteering is about more than simply maintaining a piece of land. “It needs labour, it needs time, it needs energy, it needs people to physically pull out each and every blackjack plant,” she said.

Her inspiration has come in part from former Friends of Melville Koppies chairperson Wendy Carstens, who lived across the road from Charlton and whom she often saw working on the Koppies. Seeing Carstens regularly out in her blue overalls, weeding and checking on the landscape, helped Charlton understand just how much hands-on work was needed to protect the area. “I thought, OK, let me put a little bit of my energy in as well,” she said.

Charlton believes the Koppies offer far more than a place to exercise. Its archaeological heritage, birdlife, indigenous plants, changing seasons and expansive views offer residents an opportunity to experience nature in the heart of Johannesburg. Even fire, which can initially leave the landscape looking blackened and barren, has become something she appreciates as part of the natural cycle. “You so soon start seeing little shoots coming through, straight after a fire,” she said.

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Charlton believes community involvement is essential to ensuring that cycle continues. Without volunteers removing invasive plants, she fears the ecology of the Koppies would gradually change and the area could become neglected. She points to The Wilds as an example of what can happen when individuals decide to invest their time and passion into a neglected natural space. “You know, it’s hard to do that in a very stressed world where everyone’s busy and doesn’t have time for these kind of things,” she said, “but if one can give an hour a week, or a couple of hours a month, it makes a difference.”

For Charlton, volunteering has also become a way of continually learning. The friends’ annual general meetings and guest speakers have introduced her to subjects ranging from birds to solitary bees and grasslands. Her message to anyone who has never visited Melville Koppies is: What are you waiting for?

For those who already know and love the Koppies, her experience offers an invitation to give a little time to help ensure that others can continue enjoying it too.

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