Changing minds on the mountain (6 Oct)

Trees, fynbos and the King’s Blockhouse

By Dawie Bosch, Blocktober supporter and co-lead of the Vredehoek invasive clearing group.

The story in one walk

Follow the path from Vredehoek to the King’s Blockhouse on Devil's Peak and you pass more than a century of changing ideas about how to care for a mountain. Once you reach the Blockhouse you'll find a weathered plaque honouring a forester who once covered these “barren, stony slopes” with trees. Today, the slopes have now been mostly cleared of the forester's trees (including gums, wattles and pines) so that fynbos and renosterveld can re‑establish—and the work continues. 

This blog traces that turn—why it happened, who is doing the work, and how Blocktober’s Steps for Saartjie ties our steps to something larger than a view. 

And the name, Devil’s Peak? It is allegedly tied to the old Cape legend of Van Hunks, the inveterate pipe‑smoker who allegedly matched wits (and smoke) with the Devil on this very ridge—see one rendition of this story here.

Plaque calling the slopes of Devil's Peak, prior planting of alien trees, “barren".

The plaque and the forester

On a stone wall beneath the King’s Blockhouse a plaque reads “In memory of Forester Frank Jarman… 1893–1902.” It praises Jarman for the “forest work which covered this wind‑swept mountain with trees.” The plaque is fixed to the wall of the house Jarman built and lived in, and concludes that he “found these barren, stony slopes treeless; he left them covered with forest.” Dated November 1904, it captures the "proud" logic of its time: grow timber for a wood‑hungry town, and clothe the mountain in trees.

Early forestry logic

From the 1650s onward, persistent fuel‑wood cutting and fires set the stage for colonial foresters in the late 1800’s to plant quick‑growing European pines and Australian wattles and gums. The goals were practical—construction timber, tanning and fuel—and to transform the mountain to be "aesthetically pleasing": a European idea that a “healthy” mountain looked wooded. And that fires were bad – even evil; after all the pipe that caused the "smoke" on Devil's Peak and Table Mountain was allegedly smoked by the Devil himself.

What we know now: fynbos is diverse life, not “barren”

Modern ecology reframes the picture. Devil’s Peak is naturally fynbos (with  renosterveld on the drier lower rim): low, tough, astonishingly diverse shrubland that evolved with poor soils and periodic fire. Far from empty, it is rich with endemics—proteas, ericas, restios and other species—and the pollinators, seed dispersers and fynbos' parasites that depend on them. Critically, intact fynbos is also water‑wise. Compared with thirsty alien trees, fynbos allows more rain to reach streams and dams—vital for a city that has lived through Day Zero fears.

So the aim shifts: not to plant more forest, but to restore the original vegetation mosaic and keep invasives from re‑seeding. But although the focus shifted, initially the realisation that fire was part of fynbos, did not penetrate the European-trained botanical mindset.

Invasive plantation trees once pressed high up the slopes onto Devil’s Peak around the Blockhouse. Source: Shared by Etienne du Plessis on Flicr, who advised that the photographer is unknown. 

From plantations to restoration on Devil’s Peak

Historic photos show how invasive alien trees once pressed high up the slopes around the Blockhouse, Rhodes Memorial and the rest of Devil's Peak. Over the past few decades, sustained clearing has opened the mountain: first felling, then follow‑up pulls and ring‑barking, and – more recently—careful fire management. You can now read the landscape again—rocky ridges, restio bands, seasonal bulbs and other fynbos species—where dense pine and Port Jackson once crowded out light.

The Sugarbird Project and friends

Today, a network of partners keeps the momentum: including Sugarbird Project teams (with permits, training, PPE and herbicide support) working with SANParks, and volunteer invasive plant clearing hack groups. Our Vredehoek invasives plant clearing group focuses on the Devil’s Peak sector above Vredehoek, and a sister Rhodes Memorial / Newlands group focuses on the area around UCT and Rhodes Memorial up towards the Blockhouse. Port Jackson, hakea, pine and eucalyptus stands have mostly given way, within a couple of seasons, to the natural return of young proteas, ericas, restios and bulbs. It’s repetitive work because seedbanks are stubborn—repeated follow‑up sweeps after the initial clearing, including pulling seedlings and treating resprouts—can protect a decade of recovery.

Walking with purpose: Blocktober and Steps for Saartjie

Every October the Blocktober community walks, runs, rides and swims to the Blockhouse in solidarity with survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). This is our ‘slow‑burn solidarity’: returning to the Blockhouse day after day is deliberately relentless—a reminder that survivors of gender‑based violence face recovery every day; it is not a choice. Link this with Steps for Saartjie during Blocktober, and those kilometres turn into support for the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children—including an Entrepreneurial Hub and the proposed Entrepreneur Manager post that will help survivors build income and independence.

One route, two solidarities: your steps can be Steps for Saartjie and steps for the mountain—supporting people rebuilding their lives and crews restoring fynbos.

Practical ways to help

• Join a Sugarbird hack (current focus areas, after the recent fire, are Silvermine, or Tokai).
• Join the Vredehoek invasives clearing Whatsapp group.
• Join the Rhodes Memorial / Newlands invasives clearing Whatsapp group.
• Learn five new fynbos species on your next walk and teach them to a friend.
• Join a Steps-for-Saartjie walk any day in October.
• Please donate to the Saartjie Baartman Centre.

Read other blogs in the series

October Walk Details in Cape Town

• Next walking day: 7 October 4.30pm.
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Duration: 2.5hrs, 7.5km
• Jeep Track Route: From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.
• Record your walk, run, cycle or swim in support of Blocktober on Strava.