SANParks: Silvermine and Tokai hiking trails to open in July

The South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced that the Tokai and Silvermine East trails are currently closed, which include Kalk Bay, St James, Muizenberg mountains and the Steenberg Plateau, will officially reopen on 1 July 2025.

The trails were closed following the devastating mountain fires in late April, which reportedly burned approximately 2,800 hectares.

According to SANParks, the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) is currently conducting post-fire hazard removal, clean-up and rehabilitation in the affected areas to ensure safety. This is as the fire destroyed the boardwalks and other support structures, which resulted in the exposure of dangerous objects such as nails and metal.

The Silvermine picnic site, boardwalk around the dam, the riverwalk, as well as other trails, will remain closed as all the infrastructure at Silvermine West has been damaged. The ablution blocks have reportedly also been burnt down.

The organisation said the infrastructure repairs will take some time, and added that it will not be able to open the picnic area while there are no toilets.

“SANParks is very appreciative of the assistance from volunteer groups such as Tokai MTB as well as SANParks Honorary Rangers, in these repair efforts.”

Repair efforts are said to proceed as speedily as possible, but may be affected by winter weather.

Although some trails may appear unaffected by the fire, SANParks says it is not feasible to reopen certain trails while others remain unsafe. It added that allowing access to specific trails could lead to difficulty controlling which paths people use.

” – it is not reasonable to allow access to some user groups, such as mountain bike users and not others,”

The organisation says it also closed Silvermine and Tokai from an ecological perspective, as there has been a flush of vegetation regrowth following the fire.

These newly germinated fynbos plants need time to grow without human and dog impacts (e.g. footprints and trampling), potentially disrupting this delicate and sensitive rejuvenation.

“We will assess the regrowth of vegetation and determine whether any further closures or restrictions are needed.”