Silvermine Reserve is a popular hiking, mountain biking and picnicking reserve in Cape Town that forms part of the Table Mountain National Park. The reserve gets its name from the Silvermine River running through this beautiful reserve that is also home to a wide variety of indigenous fynbos vegetation.
One of the popular hikes in the reserve is a two-hour hike to Echo Valley. One way to do this two-hour hike is to get a friend to leave their car at the end of the hike at Boyes Drive and then drive around to start it at Silvermine Reserve. Entry is not on the reservoir section of the reserve but on the Fish Hoek side of the reserve, which will only cost around R5 for parking.
You can also do the hike as a two-way hike by returning to your car. This return option will probably take around four or five hours.
When starting the hike from Silvermine, keep right and then once you have passed the waterfall, keep right again until you see signs for the Amphitheatre (right again). This open clearing is a good place to stop for a snack as it’s about half way to Boyes Drive. Soon after, the descent starts down into the forest and is directed towards False Bay, with lovely sea views from just above Kalk Bay.
A great way to end the hike is to stop over at Kalk Bay for some ice-cream at the Ice-Cream Café.