Tucked up in the rugged mountains of the southern Hottentot Holland range closeby Cape Town, lies the Kogelberg Nature Reserve. It has a rather exceptional rating as a ‘biosphere’, which means it’s 18,000 ha of pristine vegetation is intact and protected as essentially wild and undisturbed. It’s also considered the heart of the Cape Floral Kingdom due to the exceptional quality of it’s fynbos and high biological diversity as well as being recognised as a World Heritage site.
Cape Nature manages the reserve and keeps it low key; there are just five chalets which are sensitively designed with a low-impact footprint, using solar-power and compasting loos. The grey water is also collected and recycled so that the wetlands are preserved from any effluent.
It’s a “Stop-the-world-I-want-to-get-off” kindof place. Here you can disappear from the hurly-burly of city life – hiking trails lead up mountain tracks or along the pristine rivers, where the spoor is of buck, baboon, otters and mongoose. At this time of year winter’s breath is clear with a crisp champagne air and raptors soar on the high thermals: black eagles, peregrine falcons, fish eagles …. My hope is that the scenic photos might convey a sense of this awesome realm?
Nature on the Edge 
They certainly do, Liz. What a spectacular place.
Nice to see you here, Sid. Thanks for your comments. Hope all’s going well your side.
Wow, Liz, *awesome* photos! Truly beautiful landscape, what a wonderful retreat from the world. Thanks for sharing its beauty with us. 🙂
Great feedback, thanks Eliza 🙂
Wonderful post. Stunning photos. Thanks, Liz.
Appreciate your comments, thanks Mary. My thoughts are with you and your daughter, sending hopes and strength in endurance.
Your photos absolutely conveys a sense of what the Kogelberg has to offer Liz!
Your recommendation is all we need to add it to our places to visit next time we’re in the Cape!
Glad about recommending it … let us know if you’re venturing our way 🙂 Could show you some local spots.
Thanks Liz, that’s very kind of you!
Absolute awsome pictures. I love veiws of mountains and you really captured the soul of this place.
Thanks Lena, glad to get your feedback, and happy to have captured ‘sense of place’.
I really need a “Stop-the-world-I-want-to-get-off” kind of place like this! Gorgeous shots, Liz! What spectacular scenery.
Thanks for your feedback, Jane. The mountains can really cast a spell here….
Reblogged this on My Choice.
You’ve conveyed a breath-taking world that I would love to visit, to shut myself away and write and take photos.
Lovely comments, Gilly thanks. I think you’d fall under a gentle spell and write with a creative muse looking down from the mountains…. and there are wild horses, just to let the spirit roam free ….
I can hear the silence, just the birds calling Liz! Stunning landscape and beautifully conveyed. My husband was born and raised in Rhodesia and used to have childhood holidays in South Africa he will love this post!
Lovely comments, thanks Jane. Glad to spark a bit of nostalgia for SA 🙂
🙂
Thanks for the timely reminder.
Hi Mike, off season comes with the advantage of discounted rates.. less 40% 🙂
Your photos wonderfully capture the serenity of the place. Thanks.
Appreciate the feedback, thanks Stephen,
Sounds like heaven to me.
Good to have you comment…. ’tis indeed that kind of place 🙂
They do indeed Liz, a true “Stop-the-world-I-want-to-get-off” place,
though I have to say that I don’t think your theme does your photos any justice crammed in the (narrow) middle frame. Your photography is SO brilliant I want your photos to be BIG! (I know I can click on the gallery, but it’s not the same as seeing them full size on your blog). Anyway, that’s just me having a moan 😉
and thank you for transporting me to a part of the world that I love.
Jude xx
Thanks for the feedback, Jude. Changing to a new theme is on the cards … i’ve just got to get my head around grappling with backups etc. Glad I can transport you back to familiar landscapes.