Hiking trails, cableway closed as firefighting efforts continue in Table Mountain National Park
Crews have been battling flames along inaccessible stretches of the mountain, with windy conditions hampering their efforts.
A view of the fire in the Table Mountain National Park on 25 February 2025. Picture: SANParks - Table Mountain National Park/Facebook
CAPE TOWN - Firefighting efforts are continuing in the Table Mountain National Park on Wednesday morning.
A blaze broke out in Newlands on Sunday.
Crews have been battling flames along inaccessible stretches of the mountain, with windy conditions hampering their efforts.
The fire flared up again on Tuesday due to wind conditions.
The Table Mountain National Park's Megan Taplin said that aerial resources were expected to launch on Wednesday morning.
"We also have another fire that's burning in the Redhill area. It burned towards Da Gama Park yesterday and has now gone past Ocean View and it's burning towards Kommetjie, so we've been splitting our resources between those two fires - aerial resources as well as ground firefighting crews."
Taplin said that hiking trails remained closed.
"I think the most important message to get out there is that a lot of the trails are closed. Yesterday, we were still having a lot of challenges with people trying to walk into the trails that are closed and we don't want people to do that for their own safety and, of course, we don't want them to get in the way of firefighters trying to do their job."
Taplin said that the following areas were out of bounds: "All the trails from Newlands, the Rhodes Memorial as well, Devil's Peak and all the trails on the front of Table Mountain - Platteklip Gorge and all of those trails - are closed. We will probably be keeping the cableway closed and then also all trails in the Redhill area - Kleinplaas Dam area and Kommetjie area - will be closed as well."
Meanwhile, cableway operations have been affected by the fire in the Table Mountain National Park.
The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company's Wahida Parker: "The cableway operations has been impacted by the fire that has been raging over the past few days. Due to severe smoke at the lower station, we will not be operational today. Our hearts go out to all the firefighters who are doing their best to bring the fire under control."
Parker said that operations would remain suspended until it was safe to resume.
"We ask our visitors to be patient. We will resume our operations once it is safe for us to do so."