A new route
The undulating terrain of Silvermine Nature Reserve ensures that few walks are without sections of fairlystrenuous uphill climbs or light scrambles. Friday’s forecast was for low 20s, light breeze and mostly cloudy. This turned out to be high 20s with no shade, sheltered valleys, and those high clouds that don’t cast a shadow but seem to magnify the sun’s rays, making you feel like the unfortunate ants who fell victim to youthful experiments with a magnifying glass.
With tracks criss-crossing these hills providing an almost endless combination of hikes to choose from, we took a new route away from the usual River Walk. The jeep track goes south for a while before curving to the west in a steady uphill, with an offshoot taking us to a vantage point offering glorious views over the southern Peninsula with False Bay and the Atlantic peeking between the peaks! Despite our exposed position, no breeze ruffled the hair, nor did it cool us as we rejoined the main track, crossing over to toil up the eroded path through Mimetes Valley. The fynbos has grown vigorously after good winter rains, but is soft and easy to push aside without inflicting too much damage on arms and legs – sometimes a few scratches look like a savaging from a wild cat!
As a keen photographer of our magnificent fynbos and citizen scientist, I am always on the lookout for a plant I haven’t seen, and the new route produced two new species for me – a Dwarf Watsonia and Hairy Dottypea. Considering that we are restricted to observing plants along the trails, I can only dream of thousands that lie concealed in the undergrowth. The early botanists (and in fact those who continue their valuable research to this day) are to be admired for their tenacity and perseverance in pursuit of greater knowledge of our floral kingdom.
Many stops to catch our breath, shed a layer of clothing and gulp down much needed water also gave us the opportunity to take in the beauty and stillness of our surroundings, the main purpose of these mountain hikes. The heat was taking a toll by now and we forged forward with renewed energy at the prospect of a breeze at the next lookout, where a welcome refreshment break and sit-down on a rock or a hard place awaited us. Lounging among the boulders were, not only us, but many Cape Girdled Lizards and Southern Rock Agamas soaking up the warmth of this late Spring day. They were unfazed by our presence, as all creatures should be, giving us plenty of opportunity to study them. A pair of dung beetles were undertaking the Herculean task of pushing a dung ball 10 times their size up a sloping rock – in fact, the one beetle (unable to say whether the male or female) took no part in the endeavour, merely clinging to the side of it and making it so unbalanced as to defeat the object. The worker beetle eventually pushed the ball round the side of the rock!
It was all downhill from there, an easy amble down towards the dam and crossing the river before reaching the cars left at the mountain bike parking. After a 6km hike, it was a relief to pile in for a lift down to the gate where the rest of our cars waited. Despite heat and a fair degree of unfitness due to missing so many hikes, it was a very pleasant morning on the mountain and definitely one to be repeated.
