Newlands Forest

The forest itself is a popular walking and jogging destination (See trail map below), close and easily accessible from the city's southern suburbs.

In the late 1800s, much of the indigenous forests were felled, and the fynbos cleared, to make way for commercial pine plantations, which still remain and account for the remainder of the land.

[2] Existing only on the Cape Granite Formation, it naturally assumes the form of medium-dense tree vegetation, dominated by a variety of Protea and daisy species.

As it typically grows on lower mountain slopes, which tend to be developed for housing or cultivated for farming, this vegetation is incredibly vulnerable.

The major threats come from invasive alien plants such as Australian Cheesewood, Bugweed, Black Wattle, Lantana, Privet and Pine trees.

Indigenous afrotemperate forests such as those at Newlands have a significant socio-economic value, due to their use for recreation such as hiking, their role in preserving the Western Cape's water supply, and their natural production of an enormous range of medicinal plants.

[6] When the logging was eventually stopped, the final crop of trees was allowed to remain un-harvested, and today forms an important recreational area for the inhabitants of the surrounding suburbs.

The trees may have evolved this feature to kill competing plants, and it is so effective that pine or gum forests in southern Africa eventually turn into monocultures or "green deserts".

Jan van Riebeeck (the first Dutch governor of the Cape Colony) came across the extensive indigenous forests on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain and called them collectively "Boschenheuwel".

[12] As indigenous wood supplies declined, the authorities decided to clear the eastern slopes of Table Mountain for commercial plantations.

After the subsequent decline in Cape Town's logging industry, some of the plantations were removed to allow for the return of the original natural vegetation.

[15] The City Parks Nursery (see Map Image) is maintained and ran to supply the public areas of Cape Town with a wide range of flora.

A tribute to South African engineering and construction of the time, it serves as the main potable water source of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.

On 1 January 2010, to mark the occasion of being appointed as the parish leader officially, Father Pearce is said to have walked the entire length and breadth of the forest, blessing it as he went.