Kogelberg

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Kogelberg coastline with heavy holiday traffic on the R44

The Kogelberg is a range of mountains along the False Bay coast in the Western Cape of South Africa. They form part of the Cape Fold Belt and start south of Grabouw and form a steep coastal range to Kleinmond. The Kogelberg area has the steepest and highest drop directly into the ocean of any southern African coastal stretch, and indeed some of the tallest coastal mountains in the world. The R44 route is a famous scenic ocean drive that follows this section of coastline, which is renowned as one of the most beautiful stretches of coast on earth.

The mountains are made predominantly of Table Mountain Sandstone and form some very rugged terrain, which is extremely rich is fynbos, native Cape flora. The Elgin Valley's surrounding mountain ranges are considered the hub of the Cape floral kingdom and contain more plant species than anywhere else in the floral region. The climate is Mediterranean, however much milder than average, due to constant maritime winds blowing off the South Atlantic Ocean. Winters are wet to very wet and cool, with summers being dry, warm and windy. Snow occasionally occurs on the highest peaks. The area is protected within the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve and comprises a core area of 103 629ha of protected land. The highest mountain is Koeëlberg (Afrikaans:Bullet Mountain) rising to 1289m above Koeël Bay.