The Kogelberg is a range of mountains along the
False Bay
False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcat ...
coast in the
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. They form part of the
Cape Fold Belt
The Cape Fold Belt is a fold and thrust belt of late Paleozoic age, which affected the sequence of sedimentary rock layers of the Cape Supergroup in the southwestern corner of South Africa. It was originally continuous with the Ventana Mount ...
, starting south of the
Elgin valley
Elgin may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Elgin County, Ontario
* Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Chatham-Kent, Ontario
* Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontari ...
and forming a steep coastal range as far as
Kleinmond.
The Kogelberg area has the steepest and highest drop directly into the ocean of any
southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...
n coastal stretch.
Ecology
{{main, Kogelberg Nature Reserve
The mountains are made predominantly of
Table Mountain Sandstone and form some very rugged terrain, which is extremely rich in
fynbos
Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...
, the native Cape flora. The Elgin Valley's surrounding mountain ranges are considered the hub of the
Cape floral kingdom. They contain more plant species than anywhere else in the floral region, and a large section of the mountain range is now protected in the massive
Kogelberg Nature Reserve. The unique local vegetation type is classified as
Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos.
The climate is
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
, however much milder than average, due to constant maritime winds blowing off the South
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
Ocean. Winters are wet to very wet and cool, with summers being dry, warm and windy. Snow occasionally occurs on the highest peaks. The area is protected within the
Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
Kogelberg Nature Reserve is a nature reserve of comprising the Kogelberg Mountain Range, to the east of Cape Town, South Africa.
With about 1600 plant species, it contains a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in t ...
and comprises a core area of 103 629ha of protected land. The highest mountain is Koeëlberg ( af, Bullet Mountain) rising to 1289m above Koeël Bay.
Infrastructure
The
R44 route is a scenic ocean drive that follows this section of coastline.
Towns and villages in this region include:
*
Rooiels
*
Pringle Bay
*
Betty's Bay
*
Kleinmond
*
Grabouw
See also
*
Kogelberg Nature Reserve
*
Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos
*
R44 (Western Cape)
External links
UNESCO - Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
Mountain ranges of the Western Cape