How a Festival Made a Forest of Impact

Photo Credit: @barefotography

Festivals are often associated with feel-good moments, great music and a chance to escape from the everyday world. But this festival adds something else into the mix—enough trees to make a forest of impact:

Western Cape, South Africa (20 May 2024) — There are festivals that impact the moment and there are those that impact a future of moments. While many might argue that watching their favourite musician perform at a festival tends to stick with them long after the fact, there’s a special strain of hope that comes from a festival where the present is all about tangible positive impact, for the future. And as of last month, a one-of-a-kind festival made a forest of impact—literally.

Over the long Easter Weekend, people gathered from all over the country at Bodhi Khaya Nature Retreat to relish in a tree-hugger’s paradise known as the Reforest Fest.

There, teams leapt from their tents to plant an abundance of trees who kitted-out their own spades in anticipation of the event . It was a time of community, camaraderie for a greener future, and a passion to create a new piece of our natural heritage.

When all was done and dusted, the festival participants left having created a forest with 5000 indigenous trees planted—something the Greenpop team are immensely proud of.

And, the cherry on top of the forest came when a Cape Leopard was spotted in the milkwood forest adjacent to Bodhi Khaya; a special sighting by photographer Callum Evans.

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A post shared by Callum Evans | Photography (@callumevans_photography)

“The sighting is a true testament to the importance of the restoration work we are doing with our partners in the area,” Greenpop reflected.

The event has made an ineffable difference for communities and ecosystems reliant on forest resources and is a reminder to all of us that there is so much power in coming together to do something as small and massive as planting a tree.