Elephant's Eye cave

A moderate southwest breeze threatened to put a patch of cloud over the Elephant's Eye cave on Constantiaberg as we set off from the upper Silvermine car park, but it hovered overhead and obligingly kept the sun off us for most of the hike. We took the easy route today, not climbing up onto the ridge, but rather taking the jeep track - a long and winding but steady ascent to the trail leading up to the lookout and then the cave higher up.
Parts of the reserve were sheltered from the wind, and the dam cast a mirror-smooth reflection before the surface was shattered by two dogs leaping into the water after a stick. The path round the dam is the only part of Silvermine where dogs are not allowed, but evidently some dogs are more equal than others, or their owners are. I have no idea why the restriction, but perhaps it has something to do with what they leave behind!
The fynbos is still at its quietest time of year, with a few protea cynaroides providing splashes of grandeur on the cooler slopes, in shades of pink and green, but the beautiful pink ericas (which I can never identify but will find out) are in profusion and in more than one variety, together with minute versions in white. My photography was poor as I didn't take enough time with focusing and had to concentrate on my footing due to numerous hazards on the rocky path. One of our group had a bad fall and was accompanied back to the cars - it can happen to anyone, as I well know, and particular care has to be taken with roots and long grasses that lie in the path to trip the unwary.
The stream that we crossed at the lowest point was little more than that, a reminder that winter rains have been slow in coming and how desperately we need them. Hopefully it will be a torrent next time we pass that way. A strange sight on the path - a pair of shorts draped on a rock. We looked for the owner, who would no doubt have been easy to identify, but the only other person we saw ran past us in a similar pair, so it was unlikely to have been his. It did cause a great deal of laughter as we speculated on various aspects of the pant-less person.
A further group stayed at the lookout point to enjoy the view which was no less splendid than that from the Elephant's Eye cave, but the majority soldiered on up the only section that I would call strenuous and were rewarded with a panorama that made it all so  worthwhile. Looking down on the Southern Suburbs from Wynberg to Muizenberg, with shiny dots of traffic snaking along the roads like Dinky cars on a play mat, we marvelled once again at the extreme beauty of the Peninsula and how privileged we are to be able to hike in the reserve where only the rustle of the wind in the leaves and the occasional call of a bird interrupts the silence.