Text: Magriet Kruger. Images: Alessandro Bonora
Source: This article is taken from the August 2011 issue of Wild
How would you like to wake up on Table Mountain? At camps cleverly concealed in the landscape, you’ll feel like you have the peninsula all to yourself. By Magriet Kruger.
In a hollow in the mountainside, tucked away between dense fynbos, lies the Silvermine tented camp. It’s screened from the tourist road winding through this section of Table Mountain National Park and out of sight of the suburbs below, a place to forget the outside world. The soft grey timber decks and the canvas tents with their latte roofs blend in so perfectly with the surroundings, so the camp seems a part of the landscape. It’s a crafty hideaway and I’m sure Joshua Penny would have approved.
You might not have heard of him but when it comes to finding a bolt hole on the mountain, Penny wrote the book. A young American press-ganged into the British navy in the late 18th century, Penny managed to slip away when his ship docked in Table Bay. He escaped up the slopes of Table Mountain and carried on going until he could no longer see the harbour down below.
On the mountain he found his haven, an untouched ravine with a little stream and a cave where he could shelter. There he spent some 14 months, collecting wild honey, fruit, nuts and roots, and killing antelope and dassie at times. According to the account he later published, he saw plenty of wildlife, even “wolves” (hyenas), but not another soul. Thanks to his mountain refuge he had disappeared from the growing colonial outpost below.
Today Table Mountain still affords nature lovers this vanishing trick. In four beautiful and varied locations along the length of the Cape Peninsula lie the Hoerikwaggo Camps. Originally intended for hikers on the epic Hoerikwaggo Trail, their safari tents can now be booked by anyone who wants to withdraw from city life and immerse themselves in nature.
Each camp has its own feel and draws inspiration from its surrounds. Orange Kloof offers forest, Silvermine is a mountain retreat, Slangkop makes the most of its coastal location and Smitswinkel is a springboard for Cape Point.
The camp at Silvermine has clever touches. A wash basin carved from a solid piece of pine looks like a mountain rock pool. Brass light fittings have been inspired by the arum lilies that adorn the park in late winter. The deck of my tent even had a tree growing right through it. It’s so serene and lovely it’s tempting to spend the whole day here, but that would be to miss out on the marvellous landscape on our doorstep.
Table Mountain National Park protects a large chunk of the Cape Floral Kingdom, one of only six floristic kingdoms in the world. The Cape Floral Kingdom is the smallest one of these, yet also the most diverse. Some of these plants are so endangered, rangers know of only five or six specimens left of certain species, says Gavin Bell, area manager for the southern section of the park.
I wonder aloud how they know the numbers, do they count them?
“Monitoring plants is no different to monitoring rhino,” Gavin explains. “You have to check them regularly to determine their status.” Rangers walk transects and use GPS to log the location of threatened plants, but the exact spot is kept secret to protect the few remaining ones.
The marvel of fynbos is that no matter the time of year you choose for your mountain walk, it’s always a splendid sight. This is thanks to the unique mix of proteas, ericas, restios (reeds) and geophytes (bulbs). In winter many of the pincushions flower and the veld throbs with the vitality of their bright yellow-green leaves. The bulbs are next in line and from August to October watsonias and gladioli greet hikers. Species such as the striking red crassula and the aptly-named paintbrush lily bloom in summer and it’s not unusual for nature lovers to plan their hikes around the flowers’ appearance.
These days the fynbos-covered slopes of Silvermine are so vibrant and alive it’s hard to believe rows of pine criss-crossed the area little more than a decade ago. Then the woods would have been quiet; nothing grows under these trees. “Just three years after we took out the pine plantation, the fynbos returned in force,” Gavin says. “The biodiversity went from one species to thousands, as wasps and beetles, scorpions and snakes, sugar birds and butterflies moved back in. We now have klipspringer, duiker, porcupine and caracal. A Cape fox has made its den at Silvermine.”
Walk at Nature’s Pace
I discover that Silvermine is a great destination for outdoor enthusiasts. The Crags offer top-class climbing and you can go for a swim in Silvermine Dam. There’s a 9km mountain bike circuit of the dam, plus a network of trails leading into Tokai Forest. But the best way to explore the park is to walk. When you move at nature’s pace, you have time to notice things, such as the artful construction of an orb spider’s web with the large and beautiful spider quietly munching away on its prey. If you don’t feel up to the Hoerikwaggo Trail, you can still stay at the camp and go on one of the day walks: an assault on Noordhoek Peak, a family-friendly walk to Elephant’s Eye Cave or a gentle stroll along the river.
Spend the night and you’ll be one of the privileged few to experience the park after dark. When I woke in the middle of the night, it was to the sound of a nightjar. Outside the walkways were silver in the moonlight and the air still; on moonless nights it must be a remarkable thing to sit outside and gaze at the stars.
Day trippers and overnight guests can hire a Hoerikwaggo guide for their outings into the park. Guides are well informed, have an infectious love for the mountain and are trained to cope with emergency situations. “Along this mountain range conditions change quickly and many hikers have been caught by surprise,” Gavin says.
When cloud comes over the mountain, you can lose your bearings in a flash and find that one kloof leads into another, buttresses soar up where they’re not expected and forests are larger than you imagined. It’s then you realise that Table Mountain is a true wilderness.
Walking with a Hoerikwaggo guide is also the only way to explore the Orange Kloof section of the park. Nestled in the kloofs above Hout Bay, this pocket of afromontane forest is practically all that is left of the impressive trees that once covered the lower slopes. Settlers tore into the yellowwoods and stinkwoods for timber and by the early 18th century much of the mountain was bare. No wonder the authorities guard this forest so jealously, permitting only 12 people a day to visit it.
In keeping with the forest setting, the Orange Kloof tented camp has a kitchen and dining area that looks like a tree house. Perched on stilts for a view over the tree tops, the wooden cabin is warm and welcoming in winter. In fine weather an entire section of wall slides away to let the outside in. Walkways lead to the tents, up to a viewing deck, into the forest.
The best walk here is up Disa Gorge, named after the red disas that covered the Back Table in profusion many years ago. They were so abundant that flowersellers made hardly any money off them.
Today a red disa is a prized sighting and conservationists keep their flowering secret to protect against poaching.
On the Hoerikwaggo Trail you continue along Disa Gorge to the top of the table, from where you can make your way down by cable car or Platteklip Gorge. But before you do, ask your guide to point out Fountain Ravine. It’s here where Joshua Penny holed up, perfectly content with the freedom and tranquillity he found. Having visited the Hoerikwaggo Camps, it’s clear Table Mountain is still the ideal escape.
Trip planner
Hoerikwaggo camps all sleep 12 people in safari tents that have been expertly constructed to withstand winds, rain, heat and cold. Each tent has its own deck, so do allow enough time to relax. Camps have communal showers and ablutions, a large boma (kitchen and dining area), as well as outdoor braai area. You have to take your own bedding and towels.
Orange Kloof: Set in an unspoilt, restricted-access forest. Close to Hout Bay for beach and boating trips, as well as Constantia’s wine farms.
Silvermine: Destination adventure for hiking, mountain biking, swimming and rock climbing. Pristine fynbos rewards birders and flower fanatics.
Slangkop: A surfer’s paradise with its location on Kommetjie Bay. The deck is perfect for watching the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean.
Smitswinkel: Ideally located to explore the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point and Boulders Beach. The only tents with en-suite bathrooms and private kitchenettes.
Bookings:
021-712-7471 or 021-780-9204 08h00 to16h00 weekdays,
hoerikwaggobookings@sanparks.org www.sanparks.org
To hire a mountain guide phone 021-462-7861.
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