Mushrooms / Western Cape

Mushrooms: Tokai

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The 7-day forecast, hourly plan and an alert for this place are in pre-sale.

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Where to look

Look in the needle litter under older pines, especially on flat stretches by the forest roads. Porcini appear after the first heavy autumn and winter rains, pine rings at the same time under younger pines. Go in a group and in daylight, as there have been muggings in the Tokai forest.

What grows here

king bolete / porcini (prawdziwek), pine ring / saffron milk cap (rydz), slippery jack (maślak zwyczajny), parasol (czubajka kania), field mushroom (pieczarka polna)

Forest: pine plantations on the slopes of Table Mountain, fynbos

Season: April–July; peak in May and June.

Rules

Tokai and Cecilia lie in Table Mountain National Park, run by SANParks, and taking anything from a national park needs permission. I did not find current information on mushroom permits, so ask SANParks before you go. Plantations outside the park belong to forestry companies and need their permission.

About the forest

The Tokai and Cecilia forests on the slopes of the Table Mountain massif in Cape Town are old pine plantations where porcini and pine rings grow after the winter rains. Capetonians have picked mushrooms here for decades. The plantations are being felled and replaced with native fynbos.

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