POSTCARDS FROM ECHO VALLEY (KALK BAY)

I had a most amazing three-hour hike with friends recently at Echo Valley, just above Kalk Bay. Let me share with you the beauty of this part of the Table Mountain National Park through the photos below.

We started the hike on a magnificent sunny day at Boyes Drive, where we were immediately confronted with a row of steep steps, not knowing that the uphill walk would last an hour more! Good workout for the bums, hey ?

We walked through flowering bushes that was pretty dense at certain areas,

then through the Echo Valley forest,

all the way up where low-hanging clouds and cold winds took us from summer to autumn within a couple of minutes.

Surely one of my favorite spots during the hike was this little clearing among the trees with an almost unreal vibrant green color of the grass !

Hiking in the flowering season is simply amazing, the diversity of flora is stunning. I have so many shots of flowers that selecting just a few was difficult. Scroll down to see some of my favorite ones.

A year and a half ago the park was devastated by mountain fire and although there are not many signs left of the ravaging flames, there’re still some spots where we can compare the burnt and the reborn, like these protea bushes below.

“In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks” wrote John Muir, a Scottish born naturalist and preservationist. Hiking trails in and around Cape Town certainly prove Mr Muir right!