Silvermine Nature Reserve

Silvermine sits on the spine of the Cape Peninsula, and its plateau is one of the few places where you can stand on a boardwalk and see False Bay on one side and the Atlantic on the other in the same turn of the head. The reservoir, built in the 1890s to supply Kalk Bay, is now a shallow tannin-dark lake used for picnics and paddling, ringed by a level circuit path that suits anyone. The higher walks go to Noordhoek Peak and to the Elephant's Eye cave, a large mouth in the cliff above Tokai reached by a stiff climb. The vegetation is mountain fynbos - proteas, ericas, restios - and it burns on a natural cycle, so parts of the reserve look bleak within a couple of years of a fire and spectacular in the flowering season afterwards. The name comes from a fruitless seventeenth-century search for silver.

Highlights

• The two-ocean ridge - False Bay and the Atlantic visible from the same walk.
• The 1890s reservoir - a dark tannin lake with a level circuit path around it.
• Elephant's Eye cave - a large cliff cave above Tokai, reached by a stiff climb.
• The fynbos cycle - burnt slopes and then mass flowering a year or two later.

When to go

September to November for the flowers. All year for walking. Half a day. Gate hours are enforced, and they close earlier in winter.

Things to know

Gates lock at a fixed time and cars are locked in if you overstay. Fires close sections without much notice. There is no swimming allowed in the reservoir despite how it looks. The climb to Elephant's Eye is steep and exposed, and the Ou Kaapse Weg road is windy.

Nearby

Kalk Bay and Muizenberg are below on the False Bay side; Noordhoek is on the Atlantic side.

Key facts