SANParks.org Forums

Does anyone know where I can get some better information about the flora in this park? The blurb on this website is pretty general. Thanks.

Hi,

Thank you for your query. You are right in pointing out that the current information around fynbos is a little thin . This will be rectified when the new Table Mountain National Park web site is published towards the middle of this year. As it will be focused only on this Park the information will be more specialised.

In the meantime listed below are some excellent web sites that you can visit depending on the level of information you require.

If you would like to post your e-mail address I can send you some documents. In terms of reading material I can highly recommend:

Fynbos - South Africa's Unique Floral Kingdom by Richard Cowling and Dave Richardson. It is extremely comprehensive and illustrated with excellent photographs.

Another good source of information is TABLE MOUNTAIN
Authors: Anton Pauw; Steven Johnson

Both books are available on www.kalahari.net - do a search for Fynbos.

web sites:
http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/envfacts/fynbos/

http://www.panda.org.za/fynbos.htm

http://www.botanicalsociety.org.za/defa ... _forum.htm

http://finebushpeople.co.za/fynbos_index.htm

I hope you find the above references useful.

Hi,
My wife and I are visiting Cape Town in april and are concerned about hiking table mountain following reports of incidents against tourists. We were therefore looking for people to hike with or a tour group we could join can anyone help with this.
Also any views on the best day hikes in Tsitsikamma, wilderness and Addo would be gratefully appreciated
Thanks
Valley Lad

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

I have done several day hikes in the Wilderness area and would thus advise you to try it out yourself. It is beautifull!! There are different routes, some more difficult than others. A snake warning was issued earlier, so keep your one eye on the ground. Birding is prolific!! You can also hire canoes etc. that is all I am going to post now. Feel free to ask more questions if you need.

Bye and enjoy!

In Tsitsikamma I can recommend hiking on the first part of the Otter Trail. (West of Storms River Mouth Restcamp). It is a very scenic hike along the ocean.
Another nice hike (though not a day hike) is through the forest near the restcamp, across the suspension bridge and up to a beautiful lookout point.

Both trails are described on this webpage: Trails

If you don't find anyone else going at the same time before you leave I'd suggest simply parking at the bottom of the cable car area and walking along the road to the start of the trail (unless you're wanting to go up the other side of the mountain?). Here you will find other people embarking on the same trip, many of them lovely, interesting people. If you stick to the trail and chat to some of the people around you you won't be alone.

I would suggest coming down by cable car - it's really steep in places .

Have a brilliant time and don't forget plenty of fluids, snacks and a warm top. It's incredible just how quickly the clouds can close in on the top and you find yourself hiking in mist. Have fun!

HI

I know that Cape Town has a hiking club. I will try my best to find out there number and other contact details for you.

Other than that is maybe to enquire from the tourism office in Cape Town themselves.

Will get back to you on this one.

It has been a month or two since the last incident and I think that security has been improved because to the incidents you are talking about.

Regards

DvZ

Thanks to everyone who has taken time to reply there's some really useful advice, Only just over a week and we are really looking forward to it.
This is slightly off this topic but has anyone cycled down to oudtshoorn from swartberg pass, was looking at some place that do this and it looks great.

I haven't done this, but did hike up it on a school tour!!! I seem to remember our mad teacher telling us it'd be a half hour stroll, but it was more like half a day (just one section of course)

An interesting and really beautiful place though, I'm sure you'll have a ball if you do do it. I found this link if you'd like to read more:

http://www.places.co.za/html/swartberght.html

As an aside, I seem to remember the same teacher telling us that many people died building the pass. If you are familiar with the story "Fiela se Kind", this is supposedly the work her husband did which crippled him.

To Parks Spokesman

There used to be a thriving population of Fallow Deer on Table Mountain, and I remember feeding them at Rhodes Memorial as a young boy (also received a good "bucking" from a jealous stag!).
I understand that there has been a major drive towards erradicating fauna and flora alien to the country. The Tahrs and pine forests spring to mind. Has this extended to the fallow deer? One used to be able to see them on the mountain from the N2 hospital bend road but its been a while since I've spotted them.

So:
a) Have the fallow deer been removed
b) What has happened with the Tahrs?

regards
bwana

Bwana here is a article on the Tahrs
The last few Himalayan tahrs on Table Mountain are believed to have been wiped out - and with them the hope of saving at least a few of the exotic animals.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has been informed by Table Mountain National Park manager Brett Myrdal that it is "too late" to submit a proposal for the removal of the remaining tahrs.

In a letter to the fund, Myrdal wrote: "Some 138 Himalayan tahrs have already been removed as of today's date (September 15). The programme is virtually complete and our rangers are unable to find further tahr."

In June, South African National Parks chief executive David Mabunda announced that with 109 tahrs shot, the culling operation was an estimated 95 percent complete. Now that 138 are dead, it is believed that South African National Parks' objective of eradicating the alien animals has been achieved.

Friends of the Tahr attorney Salvatore Puglia, who took part in the recent 80km Puffer ultra-marathon between Cape Point and the V&A Waterfront, said that prior to the race runners were told that South African National Parks wanted to know if any of them saw tahrs along the route.

"I was disgusted and felt it was out of place," he said.

The controversial killing has left a sour taste in the mouths of all the groups and individuals who supported a humane removal of the tahrs. But despite legal challenges, public protests, moratoriums on the killings, and international condemnation, the last tahrs were shot by sharpshooters.

Helen Dagut, campaigns manager for IFAW, said she would meet Myrdal later this month with a view to the fund having some input into future management plans in the park.

This article was originally published on page 8 of Saturday Argus on October 02, 2004

Thanks Oumie! Did this extend to the Fallow Deer?

regards
bwana

Yes the deer are also being removed.
Cape Parks have also re-interduced the Klipspringer

Hi, perhaps the management at the park can help with this one.

Does anyone know the area size of the mountain component clad with fynbos and all for the Table Mountain and cape of good hope areas of the greater Peninsula park ?

Just need the stats for something I'm working on.

Thanks,

wj

I breakfast often at Rhodes Memorial and can say with confirmation of a siteing just last week that the deer are still
there. They are of particular interest to my daughter so we often hike to them. They seem to be restricted to the lower slopes... hey I'm not going to mention where they are in case some idiot goes and shoots the lot. Anyway, there is a family of about 11 still in existance. I also remember their abundance from when I was little. It was that memory that made me go in search of them with my daughter.