by Ralph Pina | Jun 11, 2020 | Featured Posts, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve
Nobody said I couldn’t fly the drone past Botmaskop while in lockdown, so here’s a short clip of a virtual... 
by Ralph Pina | Sep 11, 2019 | conservation, hiking, Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve
It’s spring in the Cape and Santie decided that she wanted to hunt a wild population of blushing brides (Serruria florida) in Assegaaiboschkloof, the valley in which the Berg River rises before it drains into the Berg River Dam. So Santie, Magdel and I set off with a... 
by Ralph Pina | Sep 1, 2019 | hiking, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve
At 1589 m ASL Victoria Peak is the highest summit in the Jonkershoek range. From the grassy dome one can see Table Mountain beyond Stellenbosch Mountain and Haelkop, south over the Groenland mountains above Grabouw and Elgin, the blue – and once more spreading... 
by Ralph Pina | Nov 14, 2018 | hiking, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve
Botmaskop is a 910 m peak near my home and is the first mountain I see when I leave for work each morning. Its form is unique in the Jonkershoek ranges, resembling the prow of a dreadnought. The hike up takes about 2 hours, following a spur through municipal tree... 
by Ralph Pina | Oct 12, 2018 | hiking, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, trails
Up Swartboskloof and down Kurktrekker, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve The last time we ascended Swartboskloof I ended up under the knife to fix a ruptured disc. So this hike, once more with Santie – and Dorette – was something of a rite of passage, a reckoning... 
by Ralph Pina | Sep 11, 2018 | hiking, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, trails
It was fantastic to get back into the mountains again on a serious hike for the first time since the back op in February. And the Boland served up the perfect day: warm, windless, impossibly blue, water coursing out of the rock and seeps everywhere, and the veld...
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