Orange Kloof route?

[Dave Fair]

Hi guys,

 

Is there a MTB route through Orange Kloof from Constantia Nek? From the peak I can see various tracks and a jeep road going up the valley to the mountain. I was wondering is it possible to go over the mountain and connect to a route on the other side.

 

Thanks, Dave

[DJR]

Nope, very strictly off limits to mtbs. Sorry!

Edited August 19, 2013 by DJR

[Dave Fair]

I figured as much! Seems a shame though. Wonder what they 're hiding in there?

[Pappa Bear]

I figured as much! Seems a shame though. Wonder what they 're hiding in there?

 

Plants....... It is really a shame that so much of the Cape is restriced to MTBs and access.

[Flowta]

Hi guys,

 

Is there a MTB route through Orange Kloof from Constantia Nek? From the peak I can see various tracks and a jeep road going up the valley to the mountain. I was wondering is it possible to go over the mountain and connect to a route on the other side.

 

Thanks, Dave

 

Unfortunately not, AFAIK you need special permission and/or a guide to just hike there.

 

Wish it wasn't as I can see it all from my house

[DJR]

Orange Kloof is basically the very last piece of indigenous Cape Peninsula (Afro Montane) forest. The only other bits that are left are in the deep ravines above Kirstenbosch and Newlands, but those are much smaller, degraded and come in narrow strips hemmed in by Pine and Bluegum. The rest have long since been cut down by our ancestors, destroyed by repeated wildfires or planted over with commercial plantations. What saved Orange Kloof was its remoteness and difficulty to log there before the modern era of bulldozers and heavy machinery.

 

Personally, I hate being told where I may or may not go on "my" mountain, but when I look at what people do on the rest of the mountain, I understand why SANParks restrict access so severely. You can gain access by hiking the Hoerikwaggo trail, if you love the mountain and nature, you should do it (on foot ).