Cecilia Park
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Cecilia is a section 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 ...
on the lower eastern slopes of
Table Mountain Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) 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 ...
in
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 ...
, located just to the south of
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South A ...
. It was previously used for
commercial logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
and known as Cecilia Forest or Cecilia Plantation, but has now been given protected status and integrated into the National Park.


Name

It is not known what the original
Khoisan Khoisan , or (), according to the contemporary Khoekhoegowab orthography, is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the (formerly "Khoikhoi") and the or ( in t ...
inhabitants called this particular piece of land, but the early Dutch settlers knew these slopes as ''"Boschenheuwel"''. The name ''"Cecilia"'' derives from the first name of
Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...
who at one point owned the land.


Location and layout

Cecilia lies on the eastern lower slopes of
Table Mountain Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) 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 ...
, just to the south of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and north of
Constantia Nek Constantia Nek is a low pass over the Table Mountain range in Cape Town, South Africa, linking Constantia to Hout Bay in the west. It is one of three passes connecting Hout Bay to the rest of the city, and, with Ou Kaapse Weg is one of the two ...
and
De Hel Nature Area De Hel Nature Area is a nature reserve protecting a river valley and indigenous forest on the lower eastern slopes of Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa. Ecology The ''Spaanschemat River'' is surrounded by steep slopes that are covered in ...
, abutting the Cape Town suburb of Constantia to the east. It is located in an area of granite, and the undulating hilly slopes were naturally covered in
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 ...
, with patches of Silvertree forest. The valleys that cut across the park would naturally have been filled with indigenous afro-temperate forest, and some still partially are. Today, large parts of the park are still covered in uniform plantations of Pine and Gum trees, relicts from the days of commercial logging. The park itself stretches in a thick band, from the north-east to the south-west. The car-park and main entrance is located at the north-eastern corner near the border with Kirstenbosch. The buildings of the forest station are a bit further up the slope. From the main entrance, the most popular walk follows a circular road, along the length of the park towards the south-western corner (near the other entrance at Constantia Nek) and then turns back making a complete loop. This road was originally built for the management and harvesting of the commercial plantations. The high Contour Path (running in a loop around the whole mountain) can be accessed from the upper slopes, where there are impressive views out over Cape Town and the expanses of the
Cape Flats The Cape Flats ( af, Die Kaapse Vlakte) is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lie ...
. The
Diep River Diep River (Afrikaans ''Dieprivier''), drains the area between the Kasteel Mountain (north of Malmesbury) and the northern slopes of the Durbanville Hills, in the Western Cape, a province of South Africa South Africa, officially the Repu ...
has its origins in the mountain slopes above Cecilia, in a large gorge – replete with a
waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...
– that is beginning to fill again with indigenous forest. The highest peak on the slopes above Cecilia is Klaasenkop (or Klassenkop).


Natural flora

The natural 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 Vegetation classification is the process of classifying and mapping the vegetation over an area of the earth's surface. Vegetation classification is often performed by state based agencies as part of land use, resource management, resource and envi ...
that occurs nowhere else in the world. Mature Peninsula 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 Silvertree, the Tree Pincushion-Protea and the Waboom, and a dense underlayer of Asteraceous (daisy) species. Interspersed in the fynbos, rocky scree slopes are home to indigenous trees such as Pock-Ironwood,
Kiggelaria ''Kiggelaria africana'' (also known as the wild peach or umKokoko) is a large, robust, low-branching African tree, and is currently the only accepted species in the genus ''Kiggelaria''. Despite its common name, ''Kiggelaria africana'' is not re ...
, Camphor trees,
Maurocenia ''Maurocenia frangula'' (commonly known as Khoi cherry or vulture-berry) is a small, rounded tree of about 4 metres, that is endemic to the Western Cape, South Africa. Description It has small, fragrant, dioecious flowers, cherry-sized edible ...
and Candlewood trees. There are a variety of plant 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 European
Pines A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...
and Australian Port Jackson Acacia. On the steep upper slopes and mountain-tops is
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, 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 Table Mountain) 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. In addition, smaller patches of indigenous Afro-temperate forest survive in the river valleys. Such areas that are protected from the seasonal fires of
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 ...
, become dominated by massive trees such as Yellowwoods, Ironwoods, Assegai trees, Olinias, African Waterboom, Rooi-els, Boekenhout and Spoonwood trees.


History

The original inhabitants of the area were undoubtedly the
Khoi Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...
, who would have herded their cattle through the local
forests A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
and
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 ...
up until the arrival of the Dutch colonists in the 1700s and the beginning of the colonial era.
Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...
bought this land in the 1890s resulting in him owning nearly the entire eastern flank of the Table Mountain range. Colonists such as Cecil John Rhodes often strove to change the
Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
landscape to make it more resemble that of Europe. This was done through the clearing of 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 ...
and afro-temperate forest, together with the introduction of European species such as deer and starlings, and the wholesale replanting of much 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 ...
with European trees such as Oaks, Birches and Pines.
Commercial logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
took off across the Cape Peninsula in the 19th century, after most of the remaining indigenous forests were felled. Fast-growing tree species such as ''
Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...
'' and ''
Pinus radiata ''Pinus radiata'' ( syn. ''Pinus insignis''), the Monterey pine, insignis pine or radiata pine, is a species of pine native to the Central Coast of California and Mexico (Guadalupe Island and Cedros island). It is an evergreen conifer in the fa ...
'' were chosen, and imported for cultivation. However, in the 20th century these plantations became less profitable as far larger sources of lumber became available. The company which owns the current and final crop of trees is due to harvest them in phases over the next few years, the original flora and fauna will be re-introduced and the park will be integrated into the main body of Table Mountain National Park.


Restoration to a conservation area

Since 2007, SANParks has undertaken to re-establish Cecilia as a conservation area integrated with the Table Mountain National Park. The indigenous and critically endangered
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 ...
have been restored over several years and Silvertrees allowed to return along with other large
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, and non-invasive indigenous trees will be replanted along the more popular paths and in the valleys, to provide shade to walkers. The plan is for a park with intermittent patches of Protea-fynbos and shady indigenous forest. Pine and Gum trees remaining from the plantations will be kept in several patches – but will need to be regularly controlled from spreading, as they are highly invasive.


See also

*
Constantia Nek Constantia Nek is a low pass over the Table Mountain range in Cape Town, South Africa, linking Constantia to Hout Bay in the west. It is one of three passes connecting Hout Bay to the rest of the city, and, with Ou Kaapse Weg is one of the two ...


References


Further reading

* Von Maltitz, G., Mucina, L., Geldenhuys, C.J., Lawes, M., Eeley, H., Adie, H., Vink, D., Fleming, G. & Bailey, C. 2003. ''Classification system for South African indigenous forests: An objective classification for the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry''. Report ENV-P-C 2003-017, Environmentek, CSIR, Pretoria. {{commons category, Cecilia Park, Cape Town Parks in Cape Town Forests of South Africa Table Mountain Table Mountain National Park