Cecilia Forest

About Cecilia Forest

Cecilia Forest in Cape Town is a beautiful part of Constantia in which to walk. There are a number of routes to choose from, the most popular of which begins at the Cecilia Forest car park where Rhodes and Hohenhort Drives meet.

Did you know? The natural ecosystem of the area is Peninsula Granite Fynbos, a critically endangered vegetation-type that occurs nowhere else in the world. Mature Peninsula Granite Fynbos is dominated by large tree-Proteas, such as the Silvertree, the Tree Pincushion-Protea and the Waboom, and a dense underlayer of Asteraceous (daisy) species (Reference: Wikipedia).

You do need to watch out for the forks along this path as initially you take the left fork, and shortly after that peel off and up on a single track that forks to the right.

This walk is circular and although most of it is flat and easy, you do need to be aware of where the path leads. If you reach a fork where one road heads back and down to the left, whilst the other continues round to the right, you know you've erred. But a lot of people walk this particular Cecilia Forest walk, so follow the odd group and you should easily manage.

A different route is to head to Cecilia Forest's waterfall. This walk is achieved both via the above-mentioned car park, or from Kirstenbosch. The latter heads up past the dam above the gardens and onto the ridge where, once on the contour path you follow signs to Rooikatkloof and subsequently to Cecilia Ravine.

The waterfall is down in the forest area and quite a contrast to the rather dry and hot parts through which you walk to reach it. A stop here is well worth it, the water icy and the coolness of the forest beautiful.

This is a popular walk with hikers, although more difficult than the many ambles you can follow by remaining on the contour paths from Cecilia Forest car park through to Newlands Forest in Newlands.