Tokai Arboretum: History, cost and activities

Centuries-old trees from across the globe, with trails & a haunted manor

Last updated: Wednesday, 14 January 2026

Tokai Arboretum is a centuries-old experiment that worked spectacularly well. Over 1 500 towering trees from across the globe stand side by side, forming a cathedral-like canopy that swallows sound and quietly insists you look up. This National Monument has so much to offer, with trails, birdlife spotting, and even a haunted manor.

FOREST FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Tokai Arboretum was established in 1885 by Joseph Lister, a British botanist tasked with a large-scale experiment in forestry: Find out which exotic trees from climates similar to the Cape could be grown for commercial use.

The result is a forest that reads like a world map. Oaks from Europe, pines from North America, cypresses from the Mediterranean, and even giant Californian redwoods rise improbably from the soil, among 274 tree species and more than 1 500 individual trees.

Many of these giants are now well over a century old and clearly labelled along the paths. A booklet with tree names and origins is available at the tearoom.

It's an absolutely beautiful forest. Image: @alexander_aitkenhead on Instagram

BIRDLIFE, BABOONS AND FOREST FLORA

It’s not just the trees that draw visitors. Early mornings often deliver birdlife sightings of Cape Siskin, Cape Canary, Fork-tailed Drongo and the ever-elusive Common Chaffinch. You might even spot an African Hoopoe, a rare treat on the Peninsula.

The forest offers plenty of distractions at ground level too, where you’ll spot mosses, lichens and seasonal fungi carpeting the forest floor. In winter, tiny streams trickle down from Constantiaberg, adding to the sense that you’ve wandered far from suburbia. 

Baboon-troops are regular passer-throughs too, usually seen before they’re heard, and serves as a reminder that this cultivated land still forms part of a much larger ecosystem.

The baboons keep mostly out of sight. Image: @kurtshaunphillips on Instagram

3 TRAILS THROUGH TOKAI ARBORETUM

There are two main hiking trails. The first is ideal for a slow wander past labelled trees and shaded picnic spots. The second, roughly 6km, starts on the same forest paths before climbing steadily towards Elephant’s Eye Cave. The view of Cape Town unfolding below makes every step worth it.

There’s also an extensive network of single-track and forest routes for over 20km branching off near the arboretum, popular with local cyclists. A SANParks activity permit or Wild Card is required for cyclists since the forest forms part of Table Mountain Reserve.

The trails are used by hikers, mountain bikers, and walkers. Image: @runningwild_za on Instagram

HOW MUCH DOES TOKAI ARBORETUM COST?

It’s at the base of Tokai Forest, so it is free to enter with donations encouraged at the honesty box by the gate.

If your walk extends into Table Mountain National Park, such as via Silvermine, a daily conservation fee of R75 applies at park gates.

You pay the conservation fee for the Tokai Arboretum at the Tokai picnic site or sales office. Image: @kurtshaunphillips on Instagram

ACTIVITIES: TALL TALES & THATCHED TEA ROOM

You’ll also pass the reputedly-haunted Tokai Manor House, built in 1795, on the way in. Legend has it that during a New Years Eve party, Frederick Eksteen, the owner’s son, rode his horse around the diners and down the stairs – the horse stumbled and both were killed. Sightings of a phantom rider and his horse have been reported since.

Less eerie (and far more comforting), is the thatched tea room nearby, where you can settle in with coffee, scones and cake beneath the trees.

VISIT TOKAI ARBORETUM

Tokai Arboretum isn’t just a walk in the forest, it’s a rare chance to step into a global experiment that, more than a century later, is still thriving.

Tokai Arboretum is open: Daily, 7.30am to 6pm

Find it: Tokai Road, Constantia Valley

Contact on: 021 712 7471, thembelam@sanparks.org, info@tokaipark.com

By Khadeeja Adams

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