by Ralph Pina | Apr 16, 2022 | hiking, Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
I think we decided on the route for that day at breakfast. The only criterion was that we would walk from my house and not drive anywhere. Santie would be on a mission anyway: to log her 1200th species on iNaturalist. My previous hike up the Rooiels River valley had... 
by Ralph Pina | Mar 12, 2022 | hiking, Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
This was my first hike from our new home in Rooiels, having moved to this coastal paradise in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve five weeks ago. We quickly came to realise that we have landed in the middle of a contest between the preservationists/conservationists who... 
by Ralph Pina | Oct 29, 2021 | hiking, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve
After 34 years of living and working in Stellenbosch, not to mention 4 years as students here, we are preparing to move to the Kogelberg coast for the next phase of our lives. Although I don’t have any notion of deliberately taking leave of familiar peaks and... 
by Ralph Pina | Oct 15, 2021 | conservation, hiking, Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, Table Mountain National Park
I haven’t posted in a while, so those who believe that if an outdoor activity hasn’t been posted on digital media somewhere then it didn’t occur, might think that I have been idle. Although there have been other distractions – like grandkids... 
by Ralph Pina | Jul 24, 2021 | hiking
Simonsberg has been a looming, brooding presence in my life for almost fifty years. It towered to starboard daily on the short walks to engineering classes, and later on the cycle commutes to work. In stressful times when I needed calm and to gaze at something... 
by Ralph Pina | Jun 24, 2021 | hiking, Table Mountain National Park
As with most hikes on the Cape Peninsula, this traverse is visually spectacular. It can be walked in either direction, but on this occasion the MCSA trail leader thought it better to tackle the steep section in the morning because high northerly winds were expected...
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