Silvermine Nature Reserve forms part of 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 ...

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 ...

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 covers the section of the

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 ...

mountain range from the

Kalk Bay Kalk Bay (Afrikaans: ''Kalkbaai'') is a fishing village on the coast of False Bay, South Africa and is now a suburb of greater Cape Town. It lies between the ocean and sharply rising mountainous heights that are buttressed by crags of grey Table Mo ...

mountains through to

Constantiaberg Constantiaberg is a large, whalebacked mountain that forms part of the mountainous spine of the Cape Peninsula in Table Mountain National Park, Cape Town, South Africa. It lies about 7 km south of Table Mountain, on the southern side of C ...

. The area is a significant conservation area for the indigenous

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 ...

vegetation, which is of the montane cone-bush type at this location. The

Ou Kaapse Weg Ou Kaapse Weg (Afrikaans for ''Old Cape Way''), numbered as route M64, is a mountain pass in the Cape Peninsula that connects the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town with the Fish Hoek Valley. It traverses the Steenberg mountains and passes through ...

main road runs through the reserve, cutting it into a northern and southern section. The Silvermine reservoir, on the north side, was built in 1898 to supply water to Cape Town. Until 2000, there were significant pine stands in the reserve, but the last of these were felled in following the major fire in that year. The area was again burnt in March 2015 and the reserve was closed for the rest of the year. The area is popular for walking, hiking, picnicking, and mountain biking. There are a number of sandstone cave systems in the reserve and there are rock climbing routes on Muizenberg Peak. The

Silvermine River (Western Cape) The Silvermine River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 river that flows through the towns of Norwalk, Wilton and New Canaan, Connecticut. It is spanne ...

, which starts in the reserve and runs to Clovelly, is the only river in the Cape Peninsula that runs its whole course without going through a developed area. The

South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...

Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre The Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (HKMRCC) is responsible for coordinating air-sea rescue in Hong Kong and an extensive area of the South China Sea. Besides the territorial waters of Hong Kong, the area includes international wa ...

is in an underground bunker on the lower slopes of the Silvermine mountain.

References

{{Authority control Climbing areas of South Africa South African Navy Nature reserves in Cape Town Table Mountain National Park