| Helderberg | |
| Pushpin Map: | South Africa Western Cape#South Africa |
| Coordinates: | -34.0833°N 18.9167°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | South Africa |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Western Cape |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name3: | City of Cape Town |
| Subdivision Type4: | Main Place |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Leader Title: | Councillor |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Black African |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Coloured |
| Demographics1 Title3: | Indian/Asian |
| Demographics1 Title4: | White |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Other |
| Timezone1: | SAST |
| Utc Offset1: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code (street) |
| Postal Code: | 7130 |
| Postal2 Code Type: | PO box |
| Postal2 Code: | 7135 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
Helderberg refers to a planning district of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the mountain after which it is named, a wine-producing area in the Western Cape province of South Africa, or a small census area in Somerset West.
Originally known as the "Hottentots-Holland" area, it was renamed "Helderberg" by the City of Cape Town following concerns about possible racist connotations in the name (see Hottentot). However, many people who live there still refer to it by its former name.
The Helderberg consists of Somerset West, Strand, Gordons Bay, Macassar and a few other towns. The district takes its name from the mountain of the same name, which is Afrikaans for "clear mountain", referring to the way in which the western side of the mountain is illuminated in the evenings, and which culminates at a height of 1137 m at The Dome.
The Helderberg region is the area between the watershed of the Helderberg and Hottentots Holland mountains and False Bay.The Helderberg planning district of the City of Cape Town includes subsections Macassar, Somerset West, Strand, Gordon's Bay, Sir Lowry's Pass, Stellenbosch Farms, and the Steenbras River valley.
The Helderberg is a mountain of the Cape Fold Belt, east of the main range of the Hottentots Holland Mountains, and south of the Stellenbosch Mountains. The upper parts are Table Mountain Sandstone, on a base of Tygerberg formation rocks and part of the Stellenbosch granite pluton.
Peaks:
thumb|Hottentots Holland Mountains and Sir Lowry's PassThe Hottentots Holland Mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt. The range forms a barrier between the Cape Town metropolitan area and the southern Overberg coast. The range is primarily composed of Table Mountain Sandstone, and forms a large range between the Cape Town outlying suburbs of Somerset West and Gordon's Bay to the west, and the large Elgin valley to the east. Sir Lowry's Pass is the only crossing, in the form of the N2 motorway, which is the primary route out of the Cape Town area for travellers heading east along the coast of South Africa.
Peaks:
Schapenberg is a foothill of the Hottentots Holland Mountains that separates the catchments of the Lourens River and the SirLowry’s River. The rocks are of the Tygerberg formation with granite of the Stellembosch pluton.
See also: Geology of Cape Town.
Strand and Gordon's Bay are known for the strength and persistence of the South-easterly winds in summer, while Somerset West has areas that are sheltered from the South-easter.
Rivers:
Paardevlei
There are several conservation areas in the Helderberg region:
Dick Dent Bird Sanctuary is an isolated 10hectare bird sanctuary in the Lourens River Protected Natural Environment near the estuary of the Lourens River in Strand.
Harmony Flats Nature Reserve is a 9hectare enclave of protected land between Strand and Gordon's Bay, which protects a surviving fragment of critically endangered Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos vegetation. Harmony Flats was originally established to preserve a habitat for the rare and declining geometric tortoise (Psammobates geometricus), which is now locally extinct, but the reserve still protects about 220 species of plants, many of them endangered,[1] as well as a range of animal species, such as the tiny parrot-beaked tortoise (Homopus areolatus), various snakes and a large variety of birds.
Helderberg Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in Somerset West. on the southern slopes of the Helderberg mountain. Its 398 ha consist mostly of Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos (a highly species-rich vegetation type) with smaller patches of Boland Granite Fynbos and Southern Afrotemperate Forest. Altogether about 600 species of plant have been recorded here, including a wide range of proteas. Particularly prominent plants include the pincushion proteas (Leucospermum sp.), cone bushes (Leucadendron sp.), sugar bushes (Protea sp.), heaths (Erica sp.) and the waboom tree (Protea nitida). Animals that can be found there include the Cape leopard, caracal, grey duiker, Cape grysbok, steenbok, mongoose, angulate and padloper tortoises and over 170 species of bird.
Part of the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve lies within the boundaries of the City of Cape Town above Somerset West.
Kogelberg Nature Reserve is a nature reserve of 3000hectare in the Kogelberg Mountain Range, to the east and south of Gordon's Bay. It protects a large portion of Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos and about 1600 plant species, giving it a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world. Part of it is in the Helderberg region.
Lourens River Protected Natural Environment is a section of protected land along the Lourens River. Its upper reaches are relatively undisturbed and are privately owned. However, the lower part of the river flows through developed areas as well as past fynbos and plantations of invasive alien trees. This natural area is threatened by pollution and by invasive alien weeds. The Dick Dent Bird Sanctuary is contained within the protected area. Beside the protected area is the Vergelegen Nature Reserve.
Macassar Dunes Conservation Area is a 1116hectare coastal nature reserve in Macassar, which protects the unique local Cape Flats Dune Strandveld vegetation with its dense evergreen thickets, flowers, shrubs and trees. The last remaining forest of the endangered White Milkwood tree (Sideroxylon inerme) on the Cape Flats is found on this reserve. 178 plant species are recorded from the area. Animal species found here include small antelope, tortoises, porcupine, hares, mongoose and a variety of birds.[2]
Silwerboomkloof Natural Heritage Site is a small, protected valley (“kloof”), near the Helderberg Nature Reserve, conserving an isolated forest of the rare Silvertree (Leucadendron argenteum), a striking, silver-coloured tree of the Protea family, which is actually indigenous to the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, making the population at Silwerboomkloof an isolated anomaly. This 4.9hectare reserve encloses a section of Boland Granite Fynbos and Renosterveld and a total of around 220 species of plant have been recorded.
The Helderberg Marine Protected Area is a small marine conservation area on the north-eastern side of False Bay, the mouths of the Lourens River in the Strand, and the Eerste River in Macassar. The MPA is in the warm temperate Agulhas bioregion. The shoreline is sandy beach with mobile dunes, and the seabed is low sandstone reef with kelp beds and sand sediments. The areas nearest to the river mouths are in relatively poor condition due to pollution of the river water. The beach inside the MPA is the most pristine part of the north shore of False Bay.
See also: List of heritage sites of the Helderberg area. Van Riebeeck’s outriders found a fertile valley with adequate water in what they named the Tweede Rivier, (now the Lourens River), inhabited by the Khoikhoi Chief Sousoa and his family. They called the valley Hottentot’s Holland and established a company outpost there.
In 1671, the Tweede Rivier was renamed the Breitenbach River, after Lieutenant Coenraad Breitenbach, but the name did not last long, as in 1673, after Laurens Visser, the commander of the outpost, reputedly drowned in the river, it was renamed the Laurens River in his memory, and over time the spelling changed to the Lourens River.
A town developed around the Lourens River and the farm of Vergelegen (Dutch: "remotely situated"), an 18th-century farmhouse built in the historic Cape Dutch style by Willem Adriaan van der Stel, governor of the Cape and son of Simon van der Stel, who gave his name to the nearby town of Stellenbosch. Willem Adriaan was later sent back to Holland after being charged with corruption and cruelty towards local Dutch farmers.
The farm is now owned by a subsidiary of the large mining company Anglo American, who have restored the farmhouse and continue to produce wines.
Somerset West was founded in 1822 on part of the historic farm, Vergelegen. The town was originally named Somerset after the British governor of the Cape Colony during the 1800s, Lord Charles Somerset, with the suffix 'West' being added after 1825 to differentiate it from Somerset East, a town in the Eastern Cape.
Strand was established as a holiday and fishing resort in 1714.[4] Before being known as Strand, the settlement was known as Mostert's Bay. In 1970, during the Apartheid era, all black, coloured and Asian people were forcefully removed when the town was classified as a white-only resort. Included in the communities forced to leave at this time were the descendants of Cape Malay slaves, who had escaped from Cape Town over 100 years earlier.[5] They lost their homes, but their mosque still stands.
Recent expansion and development of Somerset West, Strand and Gordon's Bay has resulted in them now being adjacent to each other.[6]
Strand also used to accommodate one of the largest dynamite factories in South Africa, owned by the AECI group. This area is being redeveloped into a large new mixed-use urban development, Paardevlei, and current tenants include Cheetah Outreach.
The mountain crossing of the Hottentots Holland range was known by the indigenous Khoi people as the Gantouw or Eland's Pass, and was used as a stock route. The Dutch and British settlers at the Cape built a rough pass called the Hottentots Holland Kloof Pass following the Gantouw route. The first recorded crossing was in 1664, and by 1821 the pass was seeing 4500 ox-wagons per year crossing into the interior, but the route was so severe that more than 20% of them were damaged. The ruts left by these wagons being dragged over the mountains can still be seen, and were declared a National Monument in 1958.
Starting in 1828, a new pass was constructed on the current route that would allow ox wagons to navigate the pass without difficulty. Construction began at a site about 2 km to the south of the Hottentots Holland Kloof, by the engineer Charles Michell using convict labour. The new pass was opened on 6 July 1830, and named after Sir Lowry Cole, the Governor of the Cape Colony at the time.
Local media in the region include the District Mail, a local newspaper, and Radio Helderberg.
Helderberg is also the name of a census sub-place within Somerset West, a small residential area on both sides of Sir Lowry's Pass road on the east side of the town.