Skyline Panorama Route

Time: 4-5 hours, including stops

Distance: 10 km

Entrance fee to Silvermine Nature Reserve: R160 per adult for international visitors (valid until 31 Oct 2024). Please note: entrance fee to be paid in cash. There is no network and credit card facility at the gate.  

The first part of the hike runs along the jeep track, before we start heading up the mountain. The path winds its way among the rich and beautiful fynbos vegetation and offers magnificent views across False Bay and the towns and villages along the Cape Peninsula.

The route is justifiably referred to as the Skyline Panorama Route because of the unsurpassed aerial views of Muizenberg, the Cape Flats, the Hottentots Holland Mountains, Fish Hoek, Simon's Town, Swartkop (678m), Noordhoek Beach, Kommetjie, Slangkop Lighthouse, Chapman's Peak (593m), Hout Bay, The Sentinel (331m), Karbonkelberg (653m), Constantiaberg (928m), Table Mountain and Devil's Peak (1001m).

The visitor can expect to see a vast range of indigenous plants such as Gladiolus, Crassula, Leucospermum (commonly known as Pincushions), Pelargonium and Watsonia. The Fynbos Biome also includes many medicinal plants that were used by indigenous people in South Africa.

Silvermine Nature Reserve is also home to Sunbirds, Sugarbirds, a pair of Black Eagles (Verraux’s Eagle), Jackal Buzzard, White-necked Raven, Peregrine Falcon, Rock Kestrel, Rock Hyrax (Dassie), Black Girdled Lizard and the Southern Rock Agama.

There will be an opportunity for a refreshing swim in the dam at the end of the hike.