Melville Koppies volunteer Jenny Grice said their guides are constantly amazed at how versatile the Koppies is as a practical teaching guide.

“We see what we learnt in textbooks in real life,” a geography learner said recently after she’d recognised concave slopes, homoclinal ridges and meanders in the spruit.

Jenny said primary school learners can feel hunter-gatherer tools, see the poisonous trees that they used to make their arrows deadly, view the restored smelter of Joburg’s early farmers and see the remains of their stone-walled homesteads.

“The way the Friends of Melville Koppies raise money to employ a full-time conservation team provides a good case study for tourism students.

“A Grade Six robotics group learnt the dangers of invasive alien plants and how to deal with them.

“Different biomes on the Koppies as well as more than 500 species of indigenous plants provide ample learning material for environmental education, ecology and life sciences students while hiking in unspoilt nature promotes healthy lifestyles.”

E-mail friendsofmelvillekoppies@gmail.com to book a school tour at R50 per learner (teachers that accompany the learners join free).

Go to www.mk.org.za to find out about all the subjects school tours cover and for more information about Melville Koppies.