About Take Back Our MountainsA movement that started with one patrol.
Take Back Our Mountains (TBOM) was started in January 2018 by Taahir Osman, in response to a rise in violent crime on Table Mountain, especially along the Kalk Bay mountains.
How it started
One Saturday morning, Taahir Osman answered an emergency at Silvermine Gate 2, where nine hikers had been brutally attacked. While he helped load the injured into ambulances and coordinate with the rescue helicopter, he realised the victims were close friends and regular hiking companions.
The next day, with the SAPS forensic team and one of the victims, he walked the trail again. Soon after, he and Rashaad Solomons ran the first visitor safety patrol on the Kalk Bay mountains, recovering several of the stolen items.
A message went out on social media: we are going to take back our mountains. Hikers and runners joined the patrols, and monthly TBOM hikes through the worst-affected areas drew hundreds of people. By December 2018, TBOM was a stakeholder in Table Mountain National Park, and it still is, built on one idea: safety in numbers.
Since then the work has grown to regular visitor safety patrols, bark-stripping and snare patrols, environmental clean-ups and community outreach, especially for young people. In 2025 Taahir launched TBOM Tourism, so visitors can see the Cape safely while their booking funds that work, including bursaries for young people from disadvantaged communities to qualify as tour guides.
Our vision: to protect biodiversity while creating a safer, cleaner environment for local residents and international visitors alike.
Why we do it
Our work
What the non-profit does
The founder
Taahir Osman
Born and raised in Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs, Taahir started hiking Table Mountain at 12. He still spends several days a week on the mountain, patrolling, talking to hikers and running TBOM’s day-to-day work.
Read Taahir’s storyThe team
The people who take you up
Taahir Williams
Director, TBOM non-profit. B grade PSIRA.
Yacoob Jacobs
Director. B grade PSIRA and chauffeur driver.
Ahmed Nagdee
Director. B grade PSIRA and hike leader.
Dave Taylor
Executive member and mountain guide.
Faried Osman
Executive member, hike leader and chauffeur driver.
Marwan Abdurahman
Executive member. C grade PSIRA and chauffeur driver.
With thanks to Deep South Trails, Puffer, Cape Town Trail Marathon, Zlaant, Speed Classic, Lekker Hike, OBR Construction, Blue Ribbon, and every TBOM member who turns up.
Want to hike, patrol or clean up with us?
Send us a WhatsApp with your date, how many of you there are and where you are staying, and we’ll come back to you with what happens next. Prefer email? info@takebackourmountains.org
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