Underground tunnels in Cape Town Discover the Secret Tunnels below the City of Cape Town. Parts of the underground Canals and Rivers date back to 1652. They used to supply the Company Gardens and the passing ships with fresh water. Later these rivers flowing through the city became pleasant walk ways shaded by Oaks with bridges going over them. Cape Town had its own Gentleman’s Walk and was known as little Amsterdam. As the years passed and the City expanded the Canals were used to transport sewerage until 1895 by when they were all arched over and forgotten. Today these historic Canals with their impressive architecture convey the sweet waters of Table Mountain and some Spring Water into the ocean. Follow the river of our culture and heritage that runs of Table Mountain to the haunted Castle of Good Hope. This educational and historic tour will inspire your imagination.. The old Woodhead Tunnel which leads 700m through Table Mountain from Disa Gorge to Slangolie Ravine at the end of the Pipe Track above Bakoven in Cape Town. The tunnel, completed in 1891, is constructed of arched stonework and runs horizontally, at a slight curve, 700 meters through Table Mountain. It was built to bring water from the Disa River to the Molteno Reservoir in Oranjezigt. The popular Pipe Track walk is actually an access route to the tunnel along which these water pipes ran. It was replaced by the 1300m Apostles Tunnel in 1960. The original stone steps which lead to the tunnel at the end of the Pipe Track have been badly eroded and access is quite dangerous. It was not until 1887 that work started on Woodhead Tunnel. It was a major effort in those days driving a tunnel 700metres through the mountain, and construct a pipeline many kilometres in length, with tall aqueducts to carry the pipes to Kloof Nek and then down the mountain to the Moltino Reservoir. The Woodhead Tunnel takes the shortest route through the mountain, emerging in Slangolie Ravine. The tunnel runs horizontally through the mountain with a slight curve. Part of the tunnel was arched in stonework but most of it is raw rock. In place you can still see pegs driven into the rocks. The view from the exit in Slangolie is breathtaking. The tunnel named after the Mayor of Cape Town was opened in 1891. A while back they disclosed some of the subterranean secrets of Parliament, including other tunnels and a secret staircase leading to the office of former Prime Minister John Vorster. Well-known Cape Town architect said that besides the secrets contained in the bowels of Parliament, a host of very old stormwater tunnels ran underneath the streets of Cape Town. Years ago when excavations were done for the Golden Acre centre, several of these old tunnels were rediscovered. He said there was also a tunnel linking the old Cape Town Post Office in Adderley Street to the railway station. It was believed that this tunnel was used to bring post from trains to the post office. As the city developed many of these, some of which originated in the Gardens and ran past what is today Parliament, were covered or built over. Although now underground, many of them were still in place and in use. Although there are no public recordings of alleged hauntings, we still think it would be awesome to explore this! And talking of underground tunnels... Old as Gold Guesthouse, Germiston Underground chambers & the ghost of a Chinese.. This house was built for a Cornish mine magager in the late 1800s and is situated in Germiston in the East Rand. This house has 3 underground rooms which used to house chinese mine workers. In that era there was a shortgage of labour and so they had to import mine workers. There is also a secretly concealed staircase that leads to dungeons and there are 3 tunnels that led from these dungeons to the nearby gold mines. They used to hid unregistered mine workers in these dungeons. It is alleged that you can still hear these Chinese mine workers in the dungeons as their spirits are forever bound to this house.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 16:27:48 +0000
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