Phillipskop Mountain Reserve

31/10/2026

Caring together for fynbos beauty, one alien hack at a time! 🌿

Our next alien hack at Phillipskop is coming up next Saturday, 7th November!

When we come together, we can make a real difference. By removing invasive hakea, we're helping to restore the incredible diversity of our fynbos and protect this special ecosystem for generations to come. It's ongoing work that takes commitment, but every helping hand counts!

Our alien hacks are also a wonderful way to explore the reserve. Much of the hakea we're tackling is now a fair distance away from Reception, so come prepared for a hike (good mountain fitness is essential!). Along the way, you'll enjoy fresh mountain air, beautiful fynbos, meeting new friends and the satisfaction of knowing you're helping to protect the very environment you're walking through.

Have fun, get fit and make a difference – all in one rewarding morning!

Want to get involved? We'd love you to join us for our next alien hack. Please let Anna know (by WhatsApp) in advance if you are coming – so we don’t set off without you!

Come and lend a hand in caring for Phillipskop's precious fynbos! 🌿💚

29/10/2026

Klipspringer adventure to the top 🏔️

Our favourite route to the summit of Phillipskop? The Klipspringer Path!
This adventurous trail winds through the dramatic crags on the back face of the mountain, with three sections of rope to help you navigate the steepest parts. Don’t worry — no rock-climbing skills are needed, just a sense of adventure! 🥾

And keep your eyes peeled for the shy antelope this path is named after. There’s something very special about spotting one of our resident klipspringers gracefully bounding across the rocky slopes.

Take your time on the way up — the views are spectacular and there’s plenty to stop and admire. Look out for ground woodpeckers among the crags and listen for their distinctive, musical calls. And don’t forget to use your nose! In spring, the abundant Coleonema album, or confetti bush, fills the air with its wonderfully sweet fragrance. 🌿

The Klipspringer Path is a one-way route, beginning at the eastern, lower end of the Hidden Valley. After reaching the top, descend via the main route to the Saddle, and continue exploring more of Phillipskop from there.

Ready for an adventure? Come and discover the mountain from a different perspective. 🌿⛰️

27/10/2026

A wonderful weekend for women! 💕

This past weekend, we welcomed the ladies of Christ Church Hermanus to Phillipskop for our 4th CCH Ladies’ Retreat.

It was a truly special weekend of friendship, sharing stories, praying for one another, and growing together in God’s Word. As we explored what it means for God to be the Potter and us to be the clay, our hearts and lives were challenged and encouraged in the most wonderful ways. ✝️

Our time together was enriched by the beauty and tranquillity of Phillipskop, as we enjoyed the spring flowers and birdsong, shared a reflective walk in nature, took refreshing swims in the natural pool, and marvelled at breathtaking sunsets. 🌸🦜🌅

A special thank you to Southern Wholefoods for providing our delicious meals, prepared with such care and love using sustainably sourced ingredients. Your thoughtfulness, and the smiles with which every meal was served, added so much to the weekend! ❤️

We left with full hearts, grateful for the time spent together and all that God had been doing among us. As one of the ladies so beautifully put it:

“I doubt any of us left Phillipskop unchanged.”

What a privilege to share this special place with such a wonderful group of women! 🙏

23/10/2026

🌸 Everlasting blooms

At this time of year, the fynbos at Phillipskop is scattered with delicate, papery flowers – the beautiful everlasting daisies!

But did you know that what look like petals are actually rings of papery bracts surrounding the tiny flowers at the centre? These dry, straw-like modified leaves do more than simply look pretty. They help protect the flowers from drying out in the hot Cape summer sun, while requiring very little water themselves. Resistant to wilting, they keep their shape and colour for a remarkably long time, giving pollinators plenty of opportunity to discover the flowers within. 🐝

Everlasting daisies come in a wonderful variety of forms and colours. Look out for the delicate Edmondia sesamoides, with sunny yellow centres framed by delicate white bracts, the striking pink Phaenocoma prolifera, and the snowy-white clusters of Syncarpha vestita, also known as Cape snow. 🌼

With their beautiful colours and long-lasting blooms, it's no wonder everlasting daisies are so popular as dried flowers. But we think they're just as lovely growing wild in their natural fynbos home! 🌿

Have you spotted any everlasting blooms on your walks at Phillipskop?

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21/10/2026

Sitting patiently 🦉

Our female barn owl is patiently sitting on her growing clutch, while her mate regularly delivers prey to her. With food brought straight to the nest, she can focus on the important job of incubating her eggs.

Barn owl eggs typically take around 30 days to hatch, and the eggs hatch in the order they were laid. So we’re watching closely and wondering… when will our first little chick arrive? 👀

We’ll keep you posted!

19/10/2026

15/10/2026

A shy visitor at the Eco-Chalets 🐇

One of the more elusive visitors to the areas around our Eco-Chalets is the Scrub Hare, Lepus saxatilis.

These solitary herbivores feed mainly on grasses, and if you’re lucky enough to watch one, you may notice its huge ears constantly swivelling as it listens for danger. Those impressive ears have another important job too – helping to release body heat and keep the hare cool in warm weather.

And if danger is detected? Those powerful hind legs come into their own, allowing the hare to make a very speedy getaway! 💨

So keep your eyes open when you're exploring around the chalets – you never know when one of these shy residents might appear. 🌿

13/10/2026

The Hidden Valley – a well-kept secret 🌿

Nestled between the peak of Phillipskop and the ridge of the Klein River Mountains lies a secluded valley, hidden from civilisation and development. The Hidden Valley is a refuge for nature – and a place of peace, surrounded by mountains.

Follow the meandering path up through the valley towards the saddle, and you’ll discover a very different side of Phillipskop. As you climb, look back at the mountain and you may be surprised by the stark contrast between its familiar front face and the hidden face revealed from the valley.

Instead of fynbos-covered slopes, here the mountain rises in almost vertical rocky crags. These dramatic cliffs are home to black eagles, so keep your eyes on the skies and you may spot them soaring overhead as you hike.

The Hidden Valley has another important role too: it is the catchment for Phillipskop’s fresh mountain spring water. The water flows down from the mountains, providing us with delicious, naturally filtered spring water – and we’re incredibly blessed to have a year-round supply. 💦

So take the path less travelled, climb into the Hidden Valley and discover one of Phillipskop’s quieter corners. 🥾⛰️

09/10/2026

Laying her clutch 🦉🥚

Look closely and you might spot something very special in this clip — the arrival of a new egg in our barn owl nest box!

Barn owls typically lay 4–6 eggs, although not every egg will necessarily hatch. Unlike many birds, which wait until the full clutch has been laid before beginning incubation, barn owls start incubating as soon as the first egg is laid.

This means the eggs hatch sequentially, with the youngest chicks arriving after their older siblings. It also spreads the demand for food as the chicks grow, rather than having an entire brood needing feeding at exactly the same stage.

We’ll be watching our owl cam with great interest to see how many eggs she lays in this clutch. 🥚🦉

How many do you think there will be?

07/10/2026

🌿 Wachendorfia thyrsiflora - Golden Spires of the Marshes

October sees the Wachendorfia come into flower. We have all four species of Wachendorfia found in the Western Cape, but by far the tallest and most impressive is Wachendorfia thyrsiflora.

This magnificent plant sends a flowering stem densely covered with apricot-yellow flowers up to 2 m into the air. It is not surprising that it is one of the most popular indigenous garden plants of the Cape. Although easy to grow, it does require a very specific habitat: wet, marshy ground, such as the edges of streams and ponds.

Here at Phillipskop, it grows on the lower slopes where groundwater is forced to the surface, creating areas of dense marshy vegetation usually dominated by Psoralea and Berzelia.

The plants form broad fans of pleated leaves, attractive in themselves, but they are often overlooked until flowering begins, with flowering peaking in October.

Wachendorfia thyrsiflora is surprisingly easy to grow from seed, provided it has constant moisture throughout the summer. We have encouraged it to grow around our natural swimming pool, where it has now become established and seeds itself.

Like all Wachendorfia, it belongs to the bloodroot family, Haemodoraceae. Anyone who digs up a plant will immediately understand where the family name comes from: the rhizomes are a vivid blood-red colour.

Fortunately, you can usually see this without digging up the plant, as the bases of the leaves also transition from green to red.