Kogelberg Nature Reserve, Protected natural area near Cape Town, South Africa

Kogelberg Nature Reserve is a protected area in South Africa's Western Cape, stretching from the coastline inland toward rocky peaks crossed by rivers and streams. The terrain shifts between open slopes, narrow gorges, and dense patches of fynbos shrubland across the reserve.

San hunter-gatherers and Khoi herders left shell middens and burial sites in these mountains before colonial explorers passed through without settling. The area became Crown Land in the early 19th century, and a road built in 1935 opened it to state timber plans. In 1951 landowner Harry Molteno proposed a reserve, which was established later that decade and formally recognised in 1987.

The reserve lies on land once used by San hunter-gatherers and Khoi herders; their shell-middens and burial areas can still be found in the mountains. The Palmiet River, the most untouched of its kind in the south-western Cape, runs through the reserve beneath forests of wild almond, butter-spoon, Rapanea and yellowwood trees.

The reserve is open during daylight hours every day, and walking is the main way to explore it. Weather changes quickly in this part of the Western Cape, so carrying a waterproof layer and enough water is a good idea regardless of how the morning looks.

The reserve's 3,000 hectares hold roughly 1,600 plant species, a floral diversity per unit area greater than anywhere else in the world. Hundreds of these are Erica species, alongside many Protea species and endemic plant families. The Kogelberg range is called the heart of the Fynbos.