February 28, 2016
Elephant’s Eye Cave Hike in Pictures
Posted by Evelyn Mervine
Elephant’s Eye Hike #1.
On Monday I shared one picture from a recent hike to Elephant’s Eye cave in Silvermine Nature Reserve here in the Cape Town region of South Africa. Today I’m sharing some more pictures from that hike, which took place last weekend.
I really enjoy hiking to Elephant’s Eye.The hike consists of a fairly easy 3 hour round trip route that takes you through some beautiful fynbos vegetation and past some lovely rock formations in Table Mountain Sandstone. The cave itself is a great destination that provides a nice place for lunch or a snack and, when the weather is clear, a fantastic view of the valley below. Generally, I hike to Elephant’s Eye two or three times a year. However, until last weekend I hadn’t hiked to Elephant’s Eye in well over a year. That’s because much of the Silvermine Nature Reserve was burned during a large forest fire last year. For most of last year, the hike to Elephant’s Eye was closed while the area recovered from the fire. The Elephant’s Eye hiking trial was only opened up again recently.
Without further ado, enjoy some pictures from the hike. Note that the weather was rainy and misty for our hike last weekend – however, I enjoyed hiking in the cooler weather. Also note how the vegetation has recovered significantly yet there are still signs of last year’s fire. For example, we saw burned logs and tree stumps amidst fresh green vegetation.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #2.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #3. My husband Jackie and I competed for nerdiest t-shirt. My Star Wars t-shirt was pretty amazing, but I think that Jackie won the contest with his “Kitten Kong” t-shirt.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #4.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #5. A remnant of last year’s forest fire: a burned tree stump.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #6. Note a few more charred tree stumps in this picture.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #7. Trees and a cliff of Table Mountain Sandstone in the background.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #8. Charred logs surrounded by green grass.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #9. More charred logs and green grass.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #10. The approach to the cave.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #11. A misty view of the cave.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #12. The cave itself.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #13. The view from the cave entrance, shrouded in mist.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #14. Another misty view from the cave.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #15. We could see a little through the mist.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #16. For a few minutes, the mist lifted and we had a lovely view of the valley below.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #17. We saw some lovely pink March Lilies – they’re a little early this year!
Elephant’s Eye Hike #18. On our way back to the parking lot, we took a small detour and walked past a beautiful lake. Note more charred tree remains here.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #19.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #20. Water lilies viewed from the bridge.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #21. Another view of the water lilies.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #22. Yet another view of the water lilies.
Elephant’s Eye Hike #23. One last view of the lake as we headed back to the parking lot.
That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more pictures of hikes in the Cape Town area. In August I’ll be backpacking the Fish River Canyon in Namibia with friends, so I’ll be going on a number of training hikes this year. My goal is to hike 2 or 3 times per month. I’m fortunate to live in a part of the world with such lovely hiking trails!
