January 16, 2017

Monday Geology Picture: Intaka Island Salt Pan

Posted by Evelyn Mervine

A salt pan on Intaka Island, with Table Mountain in the background.

A salt pan on Intaka Island, with Table Mountain in the background.

For this week’s picture, here’s a view of a salt pan on Intaka Island, a small nature reserve in the Century City area of Cape Town. I often go to Intaka Island to paddle in a kayak on the canals surrounding the island. On Saturday morning I went for one of my usual paddles, and then in the afternoon I joined some friends for a nature walk on the island itself. During the walk, I snapped this picture of the salt pan on the island. The island nature reserve was founded to protect plants, bird, and other wildlife in the Century City area, which has been substantially developed since the late-1990s. In the background of this picture, you can see cranes where a block of apartments is being built on one of the last areas of open ground near the reserve. Table Mountain is also visible in profile in the background. Amidst all the development in busy, growing Cape Town, I’m glad that a few parcels of land, such as Intaka Island, have been set aside for conservation. I enjoy visiting Intaka a couple of times a week as an escape from the hustle and bustle, and all the concrete, of city life. I’ll have to share some more pictures of Intaka Island in a future post.