Table Mountain National Park

Last updated

Table Mountain National Park
Montana de la Mesa desde Cabeza de Leon, Sudafrica, 2018-07-22, DD 33.jpg
Table Mountain seen from the slopes of Lion's Head
South Africa relief location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of the park
Location Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Coordinates 33°58′00″S18°25′30″E / 33.96667°S 18.42500°E / -33.96667; 18.42500 Coordinates: 33°58′00″S18°25′30″E / 33.96667°S 18.42500°E / -33.96667; 18.42500
Area221 km2 (85 sq mi)
Established19 May 1998
Governing body South African National Parks
www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain/

Table Mountain National Park, previously known as the Cape Peninsula National Park, is a national park in Cape Town, South Africa, proclaimed on 29 May 1998, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment of the Table Mountain Chain, and in particular the rare fynbos vegetation. The park is managed by South African National Parks. The property is included as part of the UNESCO Cape Floral Region World Heritage Site.

Contents

The park contains two well-known landmarks: Table Mountain, for which the park is named; and the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern extremity of Africa.

History

Arguments for a national park on the Cape Peninsula, centred on Table Mountain, began in earnest in the mid-1930s. The Table Mountain Preservation Board was set up in 1952, and in 1957 its recommendation to the National Monuments Board was accepted and Table Mountain was declared a national monument. In the mid 1960s, the Cape Town City Council declared nature reserves on Table Mountain, Lion's Head, Signal Hill, and Silvermine. Following high fire incidence in the 1970s, Douglas Hey was appointed to assess the ecological state of Table Mountain and the southern Peninsula, and he recommended (1978) that all the Peninsula's mountains above 152m should be conserved. This laid the foundations for the Cape Peninsula Protected Natural Environment (CPPNE) area, finally established in 1989. However, environmental management was still bedeviled by the fragmented nature of land ownership on the Peninsula. Following a big fire above the city bowl in 1991, Attorney General Frank Kahn was appointed to reach consensus on a plan for rationalising management of the CPPNE. In 1995, Prof. Brian Huntley recommended that SANParks be appointed to manage the CPPNE, with an agreement signed in April 1998 to transfer around 39,500 acres to SANParks. On 29 May 1998, then-president Nelson Mandela proclaimed the Cape Peninsula National Park. The park was later renamed to the Table Mountain National Park. [1]

Geography

Map showing the Cape Peninsula, illustrating the positions of the Cape Town City Bowl, nestled between Table Mountain, Lion's Head, Devil's Peak and Table Bay, the main mountains and peaks that make up the Peninsula, and the Cape of Good Hope in the far south of the Peninsula. Most of the mountainous areas indicated in light and darker brown, as well as the southern end of the Peninsula, south of the 34deg 10'S line of latitude, belong to the Table Mountain National Park. Cape Peninsula.jpg
Map showing the Cape Peninsula, illustrating the positions of the Cape Town City Bowl, nestled between Table Mountain, Lion's Head, Devil's Peak and Table Bay, the main mountains and peaks that make up the Peninsula, and the Cape of Good Hope in the far south of the Peninsula. Most of the mountainous areas indicated in light and darker brown, as well as the southern end of the Peninsula, south of the 34° 10'S line of latitude, belong to the Table Mountain National Park.

The park runs approximately north–south along the range of mountains that make up the mountainous spine of the Cape Peninsula, from Signal Hill in the north, through Lion's Head, Table Mountain, Constantiaberg, Silvermine, the mountains of the southern Peninsula, terminating at Cape Point.

The park is not a single contiguous area; the undeveloped mountainous areas which make up most of the park are separated by developed urban areas on the shallower terrain. Thus the park is divided into three separate sections, as listed below.

Table Mountain section

This section covers Signal Hill, Lion's Head, Table Mountain proper, including the Back Table (the rear, lower part of the mountain), Devil's Peak, the Twelve Apostles (actually a series of seventeen peaks along the Atlantic seaboard), and Orange Kloof (a specially protected area not open to the public). It borders on central Cape Town in the north, Camps Bay and the Atlantic coast in the west, the Southern Suburbs in the east, and Hout Bay in the south.

This section was formed from the Table Mountain National Monument, Cecilia Park, and Newlands Forest. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is not officially part of the national park, but its higher reaches are maintained as part of the park.

Silvermine-Tokai section

This section runs northwest–southeast across the Peninsula from the Atlantic seaboard to the False Bay coast. It covers Constantiaberg, Steenberg Peak and the Kalk Bay mountains. It borders on Hout Bay in the north-west, the suburbs of Constantia and Tokai in the north-east, Kalk Bay in the south-east, and Fish Hoek and Noordhoek in the south-west.

This section was formed from the Tokai State Forest and the Silvermine Nature Reserve.

Cape Point section

Smitswinkel Bay, between Simon's Town and Cape Point. Bahia de Smitswinkel, Sudafrica, 2018-07-23, DD 49.jpg
Smitswinkel Bay, between Simon's Town and Cape Point.

This section covers the most southern area of the Cape Peninsula, stretching from Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope in the south, as far north as Scarborough on the Atlantic coast and Simon's Town on the False Bay coast. It was formed from the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.

Flora

A King Protea growing in Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos in Table Mountain National Park Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos - Table Mountain Cape Town 4.jpg
A King Protea growing in Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos in Table Mountain National Park
Silver trees (Leucadendron argenteum) growing in Peninsula Granite Fynbos in Table Mountain National Park 4 Silvertrees on Lions Head - Cape Town.JPG
Silver trees (Leucadendron argenteum) growing in Peninsula Granite Fynbos in Table Mountain National Park

This area forms part of the Cape Floristic Region and as such supports a high diversity of flora, much of which is rare and endemic. Protea, erica, restio and Asteraceae species, as well as geophytes, are all found in abundance. The main indigenous vegetation types are Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos and Cape Granite Fynbos, both of which are endangered and endemic to Cape Town - occurring nowhere else in the world. [2] [3]

In addition, some sections of the park are the natural home of deep, indigenous Afro-temperate forests.

A well known local tree is the Silver tree (Leucadendron argenteum), a popularly cultivated species which is found in the wild only on the slopes of Lion's Head and a few scattered locations elsewhere on the Cape Peninsula (a notable area is above Kirstenbosch [4] ).

The Park lies in the heart of the Cape Floral Kingdom, which is a bio-diversity hot spot and seen by botanists as a botanical anomaly. [5] In fact, there are more species of plants in Table Mountain National Park (over two thousand) than exist in the whole of the United Kingdom. [6] Much of the unique flora in the area surrounding the park has been lost to agriculture and urban development.

Indigenous plants are being increasingly harvested for traditional medicines, an activity some regard as a form of poaching. Such produce can be found on sale as remedies on the streets of Cape Town's central business district. [7] Indigenous species are also threatened by invasive plants such as Acacia cyclops , three Hakea species, and invasive pines that were planted in commercial timber plantations on the slopes of the mountain also . Today the Table Mountain range has the highest concentration of threatened species of any continental area of equivalent size in the world. [8]

Indigenous afro-montane forest on Table Mountain, with Devil's Peak visible in the distance 5 Indigenous Afrotemperate Forest on Devils Peak - Cape Town.JPG
Indigenous afro-montane forest on Table Mountain, with Devil's Peak visible in the distance
Commercial plantation of invasive European Pinus pinaster or "Cluster Pine", on Table Mountain's eastern slopes Pine Plantations at Newlands Forest - Cape Town 9.JPG
Commercial plantation of invasive European Pinus pinaster or "Cluster Pine", on Table Mountain's eastern slopes

Removal of non-indigenous forests

SANParks have been criticised for their programme of removing invasive non-indigenous trees. These alien forests make up only 2% of the park, but cover areas that were previously incredibly rich in biodiversity.

Some of the mature alien invasive trees that pose a threat to the fynbos region are Port Jackson, Rooikrans, Hakea, Pine and Blue Gum. [9]

The invasive trees were originally planted as commercial plantations for timber, once most of the indigenous afro-montane forests had been felled. Unfortunately, the fertile lower slopes that were selected for the plantations are also the areas of the park which host the highest proportion of endemic and threatened species.

The park's current programme is to allow for the re-growth of the indigenous forests, while slowly removing the plantations of invasive trees. This removal has been controversial however, as some of the pine plantations are recreational areas for people living in the wealthy suburbs adjacent to the park. [10] [11]

Fauna

Male ostrich at Cape Good Hope Avestruz de cuello azul (Struthio camelus australis), cabo de Buena Esparanza, Sudafrica, 2018-07-23, DD 86.jpg
Male ostrich at Cape Good Hope

Larger predators that historically roamed the area include the Cape lion, leopard (which persisted as late as the 1920s, and tracks are claimed to still be found today [12] ), as well as spotted hyena and black-backed jackal. Large herbivores similarly disappeared at the hands of the European settlers, for example elephant, black rhinoceros, kudu, eland, mountain zebra and bontebok, although the last three species were re-introduced to the Cape Point section of the park. [13]

Smaller mammals are still found in the park: caracal, rock hyrax and a variety of small antelope species, such as the Cape grysbok and notably the recently re-introduced klipspringer.

The population of the alien Himalayan tahr originated from a pair that escaped from the now defunct Zoological Gardens on Groot Schuur Estate below Devil's Peak in 1935. As of 2006, virtually all tahrs have been culled from Table Mountain, thus clearing the way for the re-introduction of the smaller klipspringer, with which the tahr would have competed due to similar niches. [14] However it is still highly likely that a few survived.

Chacma baboons inhabit the southern parts of the park. They are highly visible and popular with tourists, but are capable of becoming extremely dangerous when they become accustomed to human beings and start to associate them with free food. Many residents who live in places close to the park, such as Da Gama Park, Tokai and Scarborough, often clash with baboons which have attempted, and succeeded, in raiding their houses for food and many resort to measures such as reinforcing their security by erecting electric fences, and illegal measures like shooting them with pellet guns, running them over, and setting dogs on them. [15] [16] This is ineffective as it can maim the baboons and simply re-inforce their penchant for gaining easy food, as it is easier for baboons to raid a dustbin for scraps rather than forage in the mountains with only one hand. [17] Thus it is imperative that visitors to the park are not allowed to feed the baboons at all.

A rare endemic species of amphibian is only found on Table Mountain, the Table Mountain ghost frog. The Park lies in the heart of the Cape Floral Kingdom, which is a bio-diversity hot spot and seen by botanists as a botanical anomaly. In fact, there are more species of plant in Table Mountain National Park (over two thousand) than exist in the whole of the United Kingdom. [18]

Marine Protected Area

The Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area is an inshore marine protected area around the Cape Peninsula. It was proclaimed in Government Gazette No. 26431 of 4 June 2004 in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act, 18 of 1998. [19]

The MPA is of value for conservation of a wide range of endemic species, and has considerable economic value as a tourist destination. It encloses a large number of recreational dive sites visited by local residents and tourists from further afield. The shark and whale watching tourist industries are also represented, and there are several popular surf breaks. The MPA is mainly a controlled zone where extractive activities are allowed under permit, with six small no-take zones. The MPA is administrated by the Table Mountain National Park.

The marine ecology is unusually varied for an area of this size, as a result of the meeting of two major oceanic water masses near Cape Point, and the park extends into two coastal marine bioregions. The ecology of the west or "Atlantic Seaboard" side of the park is noticeably different in character and biodiversity to that of the east, or "False Bay" side. Both sides are classified as temperate waters, but there is a significant difference in average temperature, with the Atlantic side being noticeably colder on average. [20]

The MPA contains culturally significant fish traps, historical wrecks and traditional fishing communities, and is also important for commercial fisheries. Part of the West Coast rock lobster industry takes place within the MPA – as well as recreational and subsistence fishers, and an illegal poaching industry mostly targeting abalone, rock lobster and territorial linefish from the no-take zones. [20]

Tourist attractions

View over Cape Point; the lighthouse's white dome is just visible. Cape Point, Sudafrica, 2018-07-23, DD 108.jpg
View over Cape Point; the lighthouse's white dome is just visible.

See also

Related Research Articles

Cape of Good Hope Headland of Cape Peninsula, South Africa

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.

Table Mountain Flat-topped mountain overlooking the city of Cape Town, South Africa

Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the cableway or hiking to the top. Table Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in South Africa, attracting 4.2 million people every year for various activities. The mountain has 8,200 plant species, of which around 80% are fynbos, meaning fine bush. It forms part of the Table Mountain National Park, and part of the lands formerly ranged by Khoe-speaking clans, such as the !Uriǁʼaes. It is home to a large array of mostly endemic fauna and flora.

Cape Peninsula Rocky peninsula in the Western Cape, South Africa

The Cape Peninsula is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. On the northern end is Table Mountain, overlooking Table Bay and the city bowl of Cape Town, South Africa. The peninsula is 52 km long from Mouille point in the north to Cape Point in the south. The Peninsula has been an island on and off for the past 5 million years, as sea levels fell and rose with the ice age and interglacial global warming cycles of, particularly, the Pleistocene. The last time that the Peninsula was an island was about 1.5 million years ago. Soon afterwards it was joined to the mainland by the emergence from the sea of the sandy area now known as the Cape Flats. The towns and villages of the Cape Peninsula and Cape Flats, and the undeveloped land of the rest of the peninsula now form part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The Cape Peninsula is bounded to the north by Table Bay, to the west by the open Atlantic Ocean, and to the east by False Bay in the south and the Cape Flats in the north.

Silvermine Nature Reserve

Silvermine Nature Reserve forms part of the Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town, South Africa. It covers the section of the Cape Peninsula mountain range from the Kalk Bay mountains through to Constantiaberg. The area is a significant conservation area for the indigenous fynbos vegetation, which is of the montane cone-bush type at this location.

Tsitsikamma National Park Protected area on the Garden Route, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, South Africa

The Tsitsikamma National Park is a protected area on the Garden Route, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is a coastal reserve well known for its indigenous forests, dramatic coastline, and the Otter Trail. On 6 March 2009 it was amalgamated with the Wilderness National Park and various other areas of land to form the Garden Route National Park.

Cape Floristic Region Smallest of the six recognised floral kingdoms of the world

The Cape Floristic Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only floristic region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, and includes only one floristic province, known as the Cape Floristic Province.

Newlands Forest

Newlands Forest is a conservancy area on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, beside the suburb of Newlands, Cape Town. It is owned and maintained by the Table Mountain National Parks Board, along with the City Parks Department of Cape Town, and includes a Fire Station, Nursery and Reservoir.

Peninsula Granite Fynbos Vegetation type endemic to the city of Cape Town, South Africa

Peninsula Granite Fynbos is an endangered Fynbos vegetation type which is endemic to the city of Cape Town and occurs nowhere else. It is a unique type of tall, dense and diverse scrubland, scattered with trees. It can be found all along the belt of granite that encircles Table Mountain.

Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos Vegetation type endemic to the Cape Peninsula in Cape Town, South Africa

Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos is a unique and endangered vegetation type that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula in Cape Town. This type of Mountain Fynbos occurs on very poor, acidic soils but is incredibly rich in biodiversity with an enormous number of plant species – many of which occur nowhere else. Due to its poor soils and steep, inaccessible location, it has not been developed for farming or houses, and consequently it is relatively well conserved.

De Hel Nature Area Nature reserve on the lower eastern slopes of Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

De Hel Nature Area is a 21.3-hectare (53-acre) nature reserve protecting a river valley and indigenous forest on the lower eastern slopes of Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa.

Lower Silvermine River Wetlands Nature reserve on the Cape Peninsula, in Cape Town, South Africa

Lower Silvermine Wetlands is a nature reserve on the Cape Peninsula, in Cape Town, South Africa.

Cecilia, Table Mountain Section of the Table Mountain National Park

Cecilia is a section of the Table Mountain National Park on the lower eastern slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town, located just to the south of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. It was previously used for commercial logging and known as Cecilia Forest or Cecilia Plantation, but has now been given protected status and integrated into the National Park.

Tokai Park Small section of Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town, South Africa

Tokai Park, previously known as "Tokai Forest", is a small wing, about 600 ha, of the greater Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town, South Africa. Tokai Park is made up of two sections: upper and lower Tokai Park. Lower Tokai Park is flat, and characterized by the threatened Cape Flats Sand Fynbos. Upper Tokai Park is on the slopes of Constantiaberg Mountain, and consists of conservation area as well as the Tokai Arboretum. Upper Tokai Park is characterized by Peninsula Granite Fynbos, Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos and Afromontane Forest and noted for its diversity.

Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area Marine conservation area around the Cape Peninsula in South Africa

The Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area is an inshore marine protected area around the Cape Peninsula, in the vicinity of Cape Town, South Africa. It was proclaimed in Government Gazette No. 26431 of 4 June 2004 in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act, 18 of 1998.

The marine protected areas of South Africa are in an area of coastline or ocean within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Republic of South Africa that is protected in terms of specific legislation for the benefit of the environment and the people who live in and use it. An MPA is a place where marine life can thrive under less pressure than unprotected areas. They are like underwater parks, and this healthy environment can benefit neighbouring areas.

Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area Marine conservation area on the south coast of South Africa

The Tstsikamma Marine Protected Area is a marine protected area on the south coast of South Africa, in both the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. It is on the coast of the Tsitsikamma National Park, and is one of the oldest MPAs in the country. The MPA provides protection for marine habitat and wildlife, including birds and threatened and endangered fish species.

The Jutten Island Marine Protected Area is an inshore conservation region in the territorial waters of South Africa in Saldanha Bay, in the Western Cape.

The Sixteen Mile Beach Marine Protected Area is a coastal conservation region in the territorial waters of South Africa, near Saldanha Bay on the Western Cape coast. The MPA is part of the West Coast National Park which is the core component of the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve.

References

  1. ↑ Pooley, Simon (2014). Burning Table Mountain: an environmental history of the Cape Peninsula. London / Cape Town: Palgrave / UCT Press. pp. 135–161. ISBN   978-1-349-49059-2.
  2. ↑ "Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos. Cape Town Biodiversity Factsheets" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2017.
  3. ↑ "Cape Granite Fynbos. Cape Town Biodiversity Factsheets" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "Silver Tree". www.proteaatlas.org.za.
  5. ↑ Manning, John (2007). Field Guide to Fynbos. ISBN   978-1-77007-265-7.
  6. ↑ "Eight Things You Don't Know About Table Mountain". 20 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "Rastafarian wild plant harvesters on Table Mountain". CAPE TREKKING. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Hannah, Lee; Midgley, Guy; Hughes, Greg; Bomhard, Bastian (March 2005). "The View from the Cape: Extinction Risk, Protected Areas, and Climate Change" (PDF). BioScience. 55 (3): 231–242. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055[0231:TVFTCE]2.0.CO;2. S2CID   14298619. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Alien Clearing - South African National Parks". www.sanparks.org. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  10. ↑ "Coolforests". Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2006.
  11. ↑ "No compromise on pines". Carte Blanche, M-Net. Archived from the original on 26 September 2006.
  12. ↑ "Cape Town Table Mountain Fauna, dassie, or hyrax". Archived from the original on 7 August 2009. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  13. ↑ "South African National Parks - SANParks - Official Website - Accommodation, Activities, Prices, Reservations". www.sanparks.org.
  14. ↑ "Table Mountain and the Himalayan Tahr". www.panda.org.za. Archived from the original on 10 September 2004. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  15. ↑ "Baboon "Gangs" Run Wild in Suburban South Africa". Archived from the original on 15 August 2009. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  16. ↑ Davids, Niemah (22 July 2009). "South Africa: Two Held for Pit-Bull Attack on Baboon" – via AllAfrica.
  17. ↑ "Baboon Matters". www.baboonmatters.org.za. Archived from the original on 4 October 2006. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  18. ↑ "Visit Africa: Table Mountain National Park, South Africa". visitafrica.site. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  19. ↑ "Government Notice 695: Marine Living Resources Act (18/1998): Notice declaring the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area under section 43" (PDF). Government Gazette: 3–9. 4 June 2004.
  20. 1 2 "Table Mountain National Park". MPA Forum South Africa. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.