It is the last conserved remnant of Johannesburg's ridges as they were before the discovery of gold in 1886. Its geology goes back three billion years. Stone tools show that Early Stone Age man camped here as long as 500 000 years ago. There is a Late Stone Age living floor. Within the last 1 000 years Iron Age immigrants arrived, and remains of their kraal walls can be found on the northern slopes.

In 1963 an iron-smelting furnace was excavated and can be seen today. The vegetation of the Koppies is entirely indigenous and is a remarkable example of the richness of Highveld grasses, flowers, and trees so close to a city center. These ridges have looked like this for hundreds of years.

As part of Generation Earth’s mandate, they called on community members and schools from across the city to join them for their annual clean up of this area. Michael Constantinides, president of the Generation Earth WITS council said “It is of vital importance for us to ensure that we take up our responsibility as citizens of Johannesburg and preserve this heritage site. We found hundreds of kilograms of broken glass as well as a few invasive plants which we managed to pull out and discard of.”

John Orr Technical High School, Diepsloot Leap School, Parktown Girls, St Andrews Academy as well as Northcliff High GE Councils came in to do their part and lead South Africa. GE celebrity’s Ashley Hayden and Cito from Wonderboom joined in and got their hands dirty as well as Miss Earth regional finalists and the 94.7 Ground patrol team who also got in on the action and spent a few hours of the morning doing good for our community.