Tent Travels: The fairest of them all

WHEN it comes to scenic beauty, I have saved the best for last. This week, we’ll wrap up our virtual Sanparks Tour with a visit to one of the world’s new Seven Wonders, the incredibly beautiful, endlessly fascinating Table Mountain National Park.

Not a single, continuous entity, it is a mosaic, in every shade of green, of fynbos-covered mountains, patches of natural forest and pristine shoreline, entwined around the densely populated urban areas of Cape Town and its surrounds. This alone makes it a wonder. Worldwide, few cities can boast such easy access to such a wealth of unspoiled wilderness.

The park stretches from Signal Hill in the north to Cape Point in the south and incorporates all the best-known natural attractions the Cape Peninsula has to offer. It includes Table Mountain itself, Cape Point, Silver Mine and world-renowned drives like Chapmans’s Peak and Ou Kaapse Weg. Also part of the park are Boulders Beach, home to a thriving African penguin colony, and the upper reaches of the magical Kirstenbosh Botanic Gardens.

If you have visited any of these iconic landmarks you will not be surprised to know that Table Mountain National Park is recognised as a World Natural Heritage Site.

All this diverse physical beauty is a little distracting. It is easy to lose oneself in the sheer grandeur of the scenery, of those shapely mountains that sweep down to the unbelievably blue sea. It is easy to forget to look at the different aspects that make this park so very special. For a start, Table Mountain National Park conserves a big slice of the Cape Floristic Region. It is the world’s smallest but most diverse floral kingdom.

Much of the park is carpeted in fynbos, an Afrikaans name that means fine bush and that describes the many hardy, fine-leafed ericas that are a major part of the mix. As well as the ericas, fynbos is made up of rugged protea bushes, reedlike restios and a wealth of exquisite flowering bulbs that add splashes of bold colour to this predominantly green and gold landscape.

Fynbos is an ancient form of vegetation. The restios alone date back some 60-million years. Fire dependent fynbos is also unique in that many of its species grow nowhere else on earth. It is, sadly, greatly threatened by expanding development, lack of or too frequent fires and other man-made threats, so it is good to know that an excellent organisation like Sanparks is the custodian of all this valuable fynbos that grows within the park’s boundaries.

Compared to the lush eastern sections of the country, the Cape peninsular does not boast an impressively long bird list. However, Table Mountain National park has plenty to interest the twitchers. Avian ‘specials’ like the Cape sugarbird and the orange-breasted sunbirds are common sightings for Capetonians but mega-ticks for visitors. Interesting sea birds are often spotted from shore. And then there are the African penguins, a great attraction to birders and non-birders alike.

Although the area encompassed by the national park was once home to lions and many other large mammals, these have mostly been eliminated. There are still quite a few antelope, including the gorgeous little klipspringer, mountain zebra, smaller predators like caracal and genet plus other interesting small creatures.

The Fairest Cape has long been inhabited by man and there are many interesting cultural and historical sites within the park, too. All this, plus the fact that the different components of the park are all part and parcel of the total Cape Town experience, make it one of the most popular and most visited of all our national parks.

For the past couple of months we have wandered around South Africa, virtually visiting 17 of its 19 fabulous national parks. I wonder what my fellow South African campers think of these parks and which ones are there favourites. With such a diverse selection of gorgeous national parks on offer, Sanparks truly caters for everyone’s taste. We really are spoilt for choice.

Although our virtual tour has come to the end, two more remain on the ‘must-see’ list. I have paid a fleeting visit, many years ago, to one of these, the West Coast National Park near Saldanha Bay. Apart from my vivid memories of the perfectly blue Langebaan Lagoon, encapsulated within this park, I know very little about it. For my huband, Bill and I, a return journey is long overdue.

Then, finally, there is the newest Sanpark treasure, the recently proclaimed Namaqua National Park, the only national park I have never visited. Bill and I have booked a stay there in September and I can’t wait to see it. But before we end the Sanparks tour, I’ll leave you with my favourite memory of magnificent Table Mountain National park:

We have spent two frenetically busy days in Cape Town seeing some of our favourite places like Cape Point, Chapmans’s Peak, Ou Kaapse Weg and beautiful, wonder-filled Kirstenbosch.

Our short Cape Town stay is part of an extended Western Cape camping trip but for the two days we are spending in the city we are enjoying a little non-camping luxury, staying with friends. We have walked and walked and walked. Our feet are sore, we are weary and we are looking forward to a restful evening with our friends.

When we arrive back at their lovely apartment overlooking False Bay we are more than ready for a well-earned sundowner but before we settle down they insist on one more little excursion. We need to take a stroll with them down to nearby Boulders Beach to visit ‘their’ penguins.

It is a perfectly lovely evening and the penguins are captivating. They revive our flagging spirits and we spend a delightful hour watching them with our dear friends.

Boulders Beach and its African penguins might not be as well known as Table Mountain and Cape Point but it is one of the national park’s rather special little treasures. No-one should visit the Cape without taking the time to pay his or her respects to these darling little residents.