Cecilia Forest

Cecilia Forest is a stretch of land on the lower eastern slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town, located just to the south of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. It was previously used for commercial logging, but has now been given protected status and integrated into Table Mountain National Park.

It is not known what the original Khoisan inhabitants called this particular piece of land, but the early Dutch settlers knew these slopes as "Boschenheuwel". The name "Cecilia" derives from the first name of Cecil Rhodes who at one point owned the land.

Cecilia Forest lies on the eastern lower slopes of Table Mountain, just to the south of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and north of Constantia Nek and De Hel Nature Area, abutting the Cape Town suburb of Constantia to the east. It is located in an area of granite, and the undulating hilly slopes were naturally covered in Peninsula Granite Fynbos, with patches of Silvertree forest. The valleys that cut across the park would naturally have been filled with indigenous afro-temperate forest, and some still partially are. Today, large parts of the park are still covered in uniform plantations of Pine and Gum trees, relicts from the days of commercial logging.

The park itself stretches in a thick band, from the north-east to the south-west. The car-park and main entrance is located at the north-eastern corner near the border with Kirstenbosch. The buildings of the forest station are a bit further up the slope. From the main entrance, the most popular walk follows a circular road, along the length of the park towards the south-western corner (near the other entrance at Constantia Nek) and then turns back making a complete loop. This road was originally built for the management and harvesting of the commercial plantations.

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Wikipedia