Well, life in the mother city is pretty good right now. Yesterday was one of the most beautiful yet this winter, with warm breezes, high wispy clouds and all those good things that give one the feeling that Spring might just be around the corner.

I took a drive up to Silvermine, at the top of Ou Kaapse Weg, hoping to take my mom’s dogs for a walk there, only to find out that in order to take them in with me, I’d have to have a WildCard loaded up with a ‘dog walking permit’. News to me, but then it has been quite some time since I’ve been up there.

Did some research and here’s what I discovered:

TMNP (Table Mountain National Park) is one of the few National Parks in South Africa where you are permitted to walk a dog. However dog walking is restricted to limited areas in order to minimize the impacts of dogs on the biodiversity of the mountain – these include running off the paths and chasing indigenous animals.

Dogs must be under the control of their owners at all times and it is illegal for dogs to be on the mountain unaccompanied. Popular areas for dog walking are Silvermine, the lower slopes of Table Mountain accessible from Constantia Nek and Tokai Pine Plantation.

(Sanparks link)

Makes sense, I guess. Well, it looks like I’ll have to get me a Cape Town WildCard (R45) and then load it up with a R50 dog walking permit (annual fee) and I’ll be all set.

In the end, I went to the beach instead.

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