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 in particular the rare fynbos vegetation. The park is managed by South African National Parks. The property is included as part of the UNESCO Cape Floral Region World Heritage Site.

Table Mountain National Park

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

33°58′00″S 18°25′30″E / 33.96667°S 18.42500°E / -33.96667; 18.42500

221 km² (85 sq mi)

19 May 1998

South African National Parks

The park contains two well-known landmarks: Table Mountain, for which the park is named; and the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern extremity of Africa.

History[edit]

Arguments for a national park on the Cape Peninsula, centred on Table Mountain, began in earnest in the mid-1930s. The Table Mountain Preservation Board was set up in 1952, and in 1957 its recommendation to the National Monuments Board was accepted and Table Mountain was declared a national monument. In the mid 1960s, the Cape Town City Council declared nature reserves on Table Mountain, Lion's Head, Signal Hill, and Silvermine. Following high fire incidence in the 1970s, Douglas Hey was appointed to assess the ecological state of Table Mountain and the southern Peninsula, and he recommended (1978) that all the Peninsula's mountains above 152m should be conserved. This laid the foundations for the Cape Peninsula Protected Natural Environment (CPPNE) area, finally established in 1989. However, environmental management was still bedevilled by the fragmented nature of land ownership on the Peninsula. Following a big fire above the city bowl in 1991, Attorney General Frank Kahn was appointed to reach consensus on a plan for rationalising management of the CPPNE. In 1995, Prof. Brian Huntley recommended that SANParks be appointed to manage the CPPNE, with an agreement signed in April 1998 to transfer around 39,500 acres to SANParks. On 29 May 1998, then-president Nelson Mandela proclaimed the Cape Peninsula National Park. The park was later renamed to the Table Mountain National Park.^[1]

The carries visitors from the Lower Cable Station on Kloofnek Road to the top of Table Mountain, allowing visitors to avoid the fairly arduous walk up.

Table Mountain Cableway

south of Simon's Town, contains a large colony of African penguins.

Boulders Beach

and the Cape of Good Hope are very scenic, although they are neither the most southern tip of Africa nor the meeting place of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as is often believed.

Cape Point

– Legislative capital of South Africa

Cape Town

– Areas protected for conservation in South Africa

List of protected areas of South Africa

– Flat-topped mountain overlooking the city of Cape Town, South Africa

Table Mountain

– Rocky peninsula in the Western Cape, South Africa

Cape Peninsula

– Headland in the Western Cape, South Africa

Cape Point

– Headland of Cape Peninsula, South Africa

Cape of Good Hope

– Smallest of the six recognised floral kingdoms of the world

Cape Floristic Region

– Marine conservation area around the Cape Peninsula in South Africa

Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area

- Major Fire in the National Park

2021 Table Mountain fire

McNeely, Jeffrey A., 2001, "Globally significant biodiversity within city limits: the case of South Africa's Cape", , pp. 44–46. Retrieved on 18 January 2006.

Parks, vol. 11 no. 3

2000, South African National Map Series 1:50 000 Topographical Sheets 3318CD Cape Town and 3418AB&AD Cape Peninsula. Published by .

Chief Directorate: Surveys & Mapping

. Retrieved on 18 January 2006.

Table Mountain National Park

. Retrieved on 13 October 2006.

Cool Forests of Cape Town

No compromise on pines. Carte Blanche report on the loss of recreational non-indigenous forests. Retrieved on 14 October 2006.

Table Mountain National Park