OUR mother city is not just about cosmopolitan sophistication, perfect beaches and scenic splendour.
Highly urbanised it might be but the cityscape is surrounded by a mosaic of green spaces, most of them collected up together under SANpark’s protection as the Table Mountain National Park.
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It stretches from Signal Hill in the north to Cape Point, 60km to the south, and includes virtually all the undeveloped areas on the Cape Peninsula, wrapping itself around the nodes of developed urban areas scattered in between.
Cape Point and the iconic Table Mountain are its greatest attractions but there are other beautiful forest sections, pristine beaches and incredibly scenic drives like renowned Chapmans’s Peak and Ou Kaapse Weg.
Boulders Beach, overlooking False Bay, is home to a thriving African penguin colony and is another piece of the patchwork national park. The upper reaches of Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens are also conserved as part of this huge reserve.
To me, the wild heart of the peninsular is the section of the national park at its very tip, which used to be known as the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.
It is a green-swathed, wind-battered, rocky finger that protrudes into the Atlantic Ocean, a wonderfully wild place just a short drive away from the centre of one of South Africa’s largest cities.
When we visited it recently it was awash with tourists from many different lands – busloads of them – enjoying the late summer sunshine after a particularly cold European winter.
The crowds don’t detract from the superb wildlife experience offered by the his pristine, almost other-worldly place and it is wonderful to know so many visitors from all over the world are awed by what truly must be the Fairest Cape in all the World.
It was the brightness of the surrounding colours that entranced me. Psychedelic lime dominated the fynbos palette, but this unique vegetation was painted all shades of green, ranging from the restful grey- and blue-tinged tones to lustrous yellowish-greens.
The auburn heads of rustios and the pastel blooms of ericas, proteas and other flowering plants gave an extra vibrancy to this verdant extravagance.
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The rocks and stony soil added red, russet, orange and grey to the Cape of Good Hope fynbos colour scheme. All this sumptuous natural beauty was framed by a stony shoreline, all soft apricot and snowy white, and the impossibly blue Atlantic Ocean.
There are some 1 800 species of plants, many of them endemic, in this, the most species-rich area of the Cape Floral Kingdom. Fynbos means fine bush, describing the small needle leaves of the heath-like plants that have adapted so well to poor soils and harsh conditions. There is such a vibrant beauty to this strange vegetation.
Of course, if you visit this reserve, you have to do the climb to the Cape Point lighthouse. It is quite a slog but the view makes it well worth while.
Once you’ve done that you will have earned a picnic tea so why not drive to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa’s most south westerly point .
Many people mistakenly think that this is the most southerly point of Africa. That honour goes to Cape Agulhas, further east. And Agulhas is also where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet, not Cape Point or Cape of Good Hope, as many believe.
Cape of Good Hope also boasts a really fascinating visitors’ information centre in an old farmhouse and the Buffelsfontein picnic site on the edge of the sea.
Last time we stayed in Cape Town, we spent a full day exploring the Cape Point section of Table Mountain National Park and another full day admiring wonderful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, the upper reaches of which also belong to the national park.
After two busy days we were glad to wander back to Simonstown where we were staying the night with friends. That evening, our friends round off our days of exploring Cape Town’s wilder side by taking us for a stroll to peaceful Boulders Beach to meet `their’ penguins.
This haven for penguins is yet another bright piece of the mosaic of unspoilt nature that is this most urban but certainly one of the most scenically beautiful of all out 19 national parks. It’s the fact that it is living proof that we can make room for Mother Nature in our most crowded urban spaces that makes Table Mountain National Park so very special – well, that and the penguins.
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