Miller's Point is a headland and stretch of protected coastline in
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 ...
. It is located about south of
Simon's Town
Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern sid ...
on the road to
Cape Point
Cape Point ( af, Kaappunt) is a promontory at the southeast corner of the Cape Peninsula, a mountainous and scenic landform that runs north-south for about thirty kilometres at the extreme southwestern tip of the African continent in South Afri ...
.
History
![Section of old family manor at Millers Point - c1920s](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Section_of_old_family_manor_at_Millers_Point_-_c1920s.jpg)
Miller's Point got its name when the land was sold to Edmund Miller in 1825, who developed it as a whaling station. However the whaling operations were stopped in the 1850s and, for almost a century, the coast remained unused apart from occasional fishermen.
In the 1920s, the land was bought by the
Molteno family
Molteno (; lmo, label= Brianzöö, Mültée) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and a hill-top town in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it h ...
of
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
who used it as a family retreat and closed it off from public access. In 1961, the Moltenos donated the land to the city for
conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...
.
The land has now been integrated into the
Table Mountain National Park
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 ...
and the family's manor is now a restaurant complex.
Current Use
![1 Millers Point - Restaurant and Park - Cape Town](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/1_Millers_Point_-_Restaurant_and_Park_-_Cape_Town.JPG)
The area around the former manor is now a recreational area, and a portion of the land is leased to the ''Cape Boat and Ski-boat Club''.
The rest of the property (extending from the
Swartberg Mountains
The Swartberg mountains (''black mountain'' in Afrikaans) are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little Kar ...
down to the
False Bay coast) is now a
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
, with some provision for holiday accommodation. The headland has repeatedly been under consideration for a
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
, however none has been built to date.
The point itself has two beaches, several sheltered coves and tidal pools.
Whale watching
This is a popular spot for
whale watching
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins ( cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...
, especially from early July to November. There are two deep pools, just to the north of the point, where the
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...
s are able to come in close to the shore and can often be seen
breaching.
Southern right whale
The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...
s are most common and come here in the spring with their calves. Other whales, as well as dolphins, can sometimes be seen too.
The beaches are sheltered from the wind and there are panoramic views of False Bay from further up the slopes.
Public access for boating
The slipways of Miller's Point are the only public access slipways on this part of the False Bay coastline, and they are much used by recreational and commercial fishermen.
Shipwrecks
Miller's Point has become a popular launching site for
wreck diving
Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures are explored. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artificia ...
trips, as well as dives on the nearby reefs. Two frigates, two fishing boats and an offshore mining vessel were scuttled in Smitswinkel Bay by the Navy in the early 1970s, to form an artificial reef which has proved to be a success. These ships now sit upright on the sea bed, about 4 km from the launching point. In addition, the
SAS Pietermaritzburg
HMS ''Pelorus'' ( pennant number: J291) was an built for the Royal Navy (RN) during World War II. Upon completion, the ship became the flotilla leader of the 7th Minesweeper Flotilla, clearing mines off the east coast of England. In June 1944, ...
, formerly HMS ''Pelorus'' (which led the D-Day invasions of Normandy) was scuttled in shallow water (20m) just off Miller's Point and the Portuguese liner
''Lusitania'' (which lies in deeper water at Bellows Rock near Cape Point after running aground there in 1911) is also most conveniently accessible from Miller's Point launches.
Water sports
Miller's Point is a popular site for sea kayaking, surf skiing, shore-entry scuba diving, spear-fishing and yachting.
Flora and fauna
![MillersPoint Mountainside Cape Town 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/MillersPoint_Mountainside_Cape_Town_4.JPG)
The main indigenous ecosystem of the area is
Peninsula Granite Fynbos
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 ...
, a
critically endangered vegetation-type that occurs nowhere else in the world. Mature Granite Fynbos is dominated by large tree-
Protea
''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos'').
Etymology
The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...
s, such as the
tree pincushion-protea and the
waboom, and a dense under-layer of
asteraceous (daisy) species. There are a variety of species (some already extinct) which are naturally restricted to this specific vegetation type, occurring nowhere else in the world. The primary threat to this ecosystem is invasive alien plants, such as the Australian
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
and
rooikrans
''Acacia cyclops'', commonly known as coastal wattle, cyclops wattle, one-eyed wattle, red-eyed wattle, redwreath acacia, western coastal wattle, rooikrans, rooikrans acacia, is a coastal shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae. Native to A ...
acacias.
Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos
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 numb ...
, a less severely endangered vegetation-type with a different range of species, can be found on the higher slopes, including a vast number of
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
s. This tiny
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
(restricted to the upper slopes of
Cape Peninsula
The Cape Peninsula ( af, Kaapse Skiereiland) 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 ...
mountains) has an extraordinarily rich
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
, with roughly the same number of plant species as can be found in the whole of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
Since being established as a marine sanctuary, inshore fishing has been prohibited and the rocky coastline has recovered its abundant marine life. This plentiful sea life has made the point an attraction for recreational scuba divers. A sheltered cove at Miller's Point is one of the largest known aggregation sites for
broadnose sevengill shark
The broadnose sevengill shark (''Notorynchus cepedianus'') is the only extant member of the genus ''Notorynchus'', in the family Hexanchidae. It is recognizable because of its seven gill slits, while most shark species have five gill slits, with ...
s.
References
{{Cape Town, natural
Beaches of South Africa
Geography of Cape Town
Miller's Point, Cape
Maritime history of South Africa
Tourist attractions in Cape Town