The Drakenstein mountain is a mountain range in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It lies opposite Simonsberg Mountain and is part of the

Cape Fold Belt The Cape Fold Belt (CFB) is a long fold-and-thrust mountain belt along the western and southern coastlines of Western Cape, South Africa. The Cape Fold Belt formed during the Permian period (300 to 250million years ago) in the late Paleozoic ...

. It is named after ex-soldier Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein, who was Colonial administrator of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

History

Both the mountain and the valley at its foot Groot Drakenstein were named in honour of Hendrik who visited the Cape as Commissioner-General in 1685; Drakenstein (modern spelling usually Drakestein) was the name of his estate in the Netherlands.Cf. The mountain is opposite Simonsberg named after the first governor of the Cape Simon van Der Stel.Internet.

Geography

They actually comprise two separate ranges, the Klein Drakenstein and Groot Drakenstein Mountains. The former located just to the east of

Paarl Paarl (; ; derived from ''parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a city with 294,457 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest city in the Boland, Western Cape, Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni ...

being punctuated by the Huguenot Tunnel on the N1 highway and Du Toitskloof Pass () as the

R101 R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airships completed in 1929 as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme, a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was d ...

route. The latter is much taller and is located south of Franschhoek and

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

, with Victoria Peak ( as its highest point. It is traversed by no mountain passes, but contains the Hottentots-Holland Nature Reserve and also holds title of the wettest place in South Africa in the upper reaches of the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, with over of precipitation per annum (precise measurement unverified), the reason for the Wemmershoek Dam to be built in this mountain. Most vegetation is of the

Cape Floral Kingdom The Cape Floral Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only floristic region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, and includes only one floristic province, known as the Cape Floristic Province. The C ...

biome, and the primary rocks are of the Table Mountain Sandstone group of the Cape Supergroup. The region falls within the Mediterranean climatic zone, with cool, wet winters, with snow on the higher elevations and warm, dry summers. The one peak facing Boschendal wine farm is named devils tooth for its big tooth look. British singer and songwriter

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen, Her accolades include a Brit Award, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivi ...

shot the Air Balloon (song) at the foot of the mountain at an unused castle (perfect for movies, photography, in her case music videos). The mountain is mainly untouched yet there is footpaths crossing the baboon infested mountain, with an

apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator or superpredator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the hig ...

the Cape leopard roaming the mountains and surrounding farms. For the hiking enthusiasts a trail with camping cabins runs all the way to

Hermanus Hermanus (; originally called ''Hermanuspietersfontein'', but shortened in 1902 as the name was too long for the postal service

References

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Western Cape

History

Geography

See also

References