Cape Point: Sirkelsvlei ...

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You'll frequently find me down at Sirkelsvlei, whether at the lake itself or out on the reed flats, having turned inland above Mast Bay. I really "dig" the place and its silence.

One warm, sweat-covered summer's day, I stopped at Blouklipplaat overlooking the flats for some water and a smoke. A flock of ostrich pecked at the dirt out west and a herd of grysbok chewed their way south. On stopping, I heard a weird, inexplicable creaking noise. I turned. Nothing. I looked north. The sound persisted. I realised it emanated from my backpack's straps rubbing against the canvas covering my tripod.

In spaces where the silence is deafening, such small noises can split your eardrums. I sat on the worn rock and bathed in the sun and the absence of noise.

"The often jagged and chaotic bouldery landscape and rock formations that characterise the reserve are the result of nature's sculpting over millions of years. Although hardly on the scale of the Grand Canyon, and not so much Michelangelo as Henry Moore with a hangover, some of the sculptures are impressive in their own way. These include the tumbled henges on Bonteberg and the mysterious standing stones in the Krom River Valley. The escarpment above Olifantsbos exhibits some fine monolithic mazes and stark surrealistic carvings. Some could have stepped straight out of science fiction (a bug-eyed monster would not look out of place perched on them); some, with their battlements and machicolations, from medieval fortresses."

Between Two Shores Michael Fraser and Liz McMahon New Africa Books 1994

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Put simply, Sirkelsvlei is Cape Point's most enjoyable walk. Given two or three hours, you'll not break too much of a sweat — even taking in the so-called "Shipwreck Trail" and, given the day, you'll be free to meander to your heart's content.

You can walk to the vlei from virtually any point on the compass, but the more popular demarcated routes are best adhered to. This means a stroll from either the Krom River side, at the junction of the Olifantsbos road and the service road leading south; from the Olifantsbosbaai parking area up to the WWII submarine lookout, or from the wreck of the Nolloth.

My preferred route is up along Die Kloof and back along the reed flats and lookout. The virtues of the demarcated path are, in this instance, i.e. setting out, overrated so I tend to walk up the floor of the kloof rather than along Mimetes Ridge.

Look, any place with a spot referred to on the maps as Lumbago Alley is bound to be a bad experience and, as far as I'm concerned, it is. It's a boring path at best, twisting — seemingly endlessly, up along the rocky spine of the hill.

"Sirkelsvlei is the largest freshwater body, extending over 6.3 hectares and with a maximum depth of 1.4 metres. It is a paradoxical pond, situated as it is on a plateau which is higher than the surrounding landscape and which offers only the tiniest of catchments. There is no obvious inflow, apart from surface trickle in winter, and yet Sirkelsvlei rarely dries out. The secret, it is thought, lies in underground springs, or in water fed from the adjacent marshes and channelled by the two sandstone ridges between which the vlei lies."

Between Two Shores Michael Fraser and Liz McMahon New Africa Books 1994

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If you're into small things of a fynbos nature, the rocky outcrops, Leucadendron fields, tussock marshes and small beach surrounding Sirkelsvlei can swallow the greater part of your day. The outcrops are, according to Fraser and McMahon — our tour guides, artificial. They were put in place to attract birds but the saline water frustrated every attempt.

To my mind, it was a dumb move. Anybody who's spent a day in the south-easter at Cape Point will tell you the air can get so thick with salt only hardy seabirds and crazed Egyptian geese will survive there. I've seen Peregrine Falcon at the point and crows all over the place, but few are mad enough to nest at Sirkelsvlei.

"The summer southeasters and winter northwesters carry salt-laden sea-spray into and over the reserve. This inevitably finds its way into the groundwater and the vleis. The amount of sodium and chlorine in Sirkelsvlei, in fact, makes it almost indistinguishable from seawater. A high rate of evaporation in the hot and windy summers also serves to concentrate these salts. It is interesting that Sirkelsvlei has a higher salt concentration than the recently constructed artificial vleis, such as Suurdam and Gilli Dam. This presumably is a consequence of its longer exposure to the briny zephyrs."

Between Two Shores Michael Fraser and Liz McMahon New Africa Books 1994

From the Mast Bay turnoff, head towards the Port War Signal Station barracks in the distance. The barracks' visibility is deceptive; the closer you get to the main building, the less likely you are to see it. You'll not regret forsaking the path as the old buildings are well worth visiting and offer a good place to rest, rummage or take a nap.

The observation post and its fellows at Cape Point were manned by naval personnel who should have been the first to see the S.S. Thomas T. Tucker run aground in November 1942.

Whether they were or not is unknown, but the wreck now forms a visible reminder, on the westward point below, to stay awake and remain alert. Being stationed at Olifantsbos must have been something of a "cushy billet" and I'd not be surprised if the lookout was otherwise occupied at the time, e.g. sleeping or pulling crayfish out of the water.

"During the Second World War, for example, Sirkelsvlei was used as a target for bombers, strafing by low-flying aircraft, and by field-guns sited at Klaasjagersberg. In later years, some of the small ponds were laced with copper sulphate and had hundreds of shell-cases dumped into them in an attempt to boost the mineral intake of the introduced buck, which were experiencing acute shortages of trace elements. Truck-loads of military hardware were subsequently removed from Sirkelsvlei, but what effect its addition, and subsequent extraction, had on water chemistry can only be speculated upon."

Between Two Shores Michael Fraser and Liz McMahon New Africa Books 1994

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