Melville Koppies

A couple months back, Daddles and I eventually got around to going on a guided walk of the Melville Koppies.

We arrived early one summer morning, all ready to go. My in my trusty pair of walking Havaiana flip flops and everyone else in their hiking boots. And I’ll have you know I didn’t get a sock tan and had the last laugh when we walked through the river. Ha!

The Melville Koppies is a nature reserve and Heritage site just off Beyers Naude at the bottom of Melville and across the road from Mark’s Park (where the original Louw Geldenhuys farmhouse is). The walks are through Melville Koppies Central. They do dog walks through Melville Koppies West. Melville Koppies East is open to the public but people are advised not to walk alone (as with most of these areas in Joburg)

The area is on a granite ridge and as you walk around, you can see where the granite has been pushed to the surface. There are all sorts of different colour stones – ranging from clear, to white to brown to black - in different areas, I would assume as a result of different veins of granite and conditions.

The guided walk took us up the koppie, through a foresty area where we looked at all sorts of mushrooms, lichens and pretty flowering plants growing there and also sampling the edible fruits and berries that grow there. All the plants are indigenous. There is even a plant that looks like the seeds of the Tree of Souls in Avatar.

We walked up to the top of the koppie and to where the Iron Age furnace can be found. They have set up a roof and put up educational signage boards and information about the ages of man in the area. Our guide quickly ran through the 250 000 year history (Stone Age an onwards) and who moved through the area and what they left behind. There are arrow heads made of stone, cutting tools, pots, kraal walls and so on. They have also found San artefacts.   

Further up, is a view to die for! You get a 360° view of Johannesburg… its breath taking! On a clear day you can see all the way out to Magaliesburg.

From there we walked down the back of the hill towards the Westdene Spruit, that runs along Beyers Naude and into the Emmarentia Dams. It’s a lovely, cool, quiet area and a nice way to end the walk. All in all, it’s about 3 hours (I think). The guides are passionate about the area and their particular specialisations, such as the plants, insects and history.

They do regular guided walks and also do speciality walks like Geology, birding, ecology and trees. Visit their website on www.mk.org.za for more info.