Across Waterloo road and slightly to the South of the GZ is an old entrance to Wynberg Military Base. This entrance is no longer in use, and traffic now enters the base from Camp Road by St John's Church.
The military base in Wynberg was established in 1804 on the farm De Oude Wijnbergh (old wine mountain). The owner, Alexander Tennant, sold 78 morgen (66.8 hectares) to the Cape government, and a further 54 morgen (46.2 hectares) was acquired by the British Secretary at War in 1886.
However, the military history of this site is far older: in 1795, the Dutch attempted to attack the Britsh ships anchored at Simon's Bay (now Simonstown). They made their stand at Muizenberg but were forced to retreat. A second stand was made at Retreat, and they were again forced to retreat over Wynberg hill. The strategic importance of this site was not lost on the British, and they established an encampment on the side of the hill to act as a defensive position against the Dutch encampment at Alphen hill.
This makes Wynberg, with the exception of the Castle, the oldest permanent military establishment in South Africa.
Between 1816 and 1859 the Wynberg Camp suffered a period of decline as the British found that The Castle and Simon's Town Naval Base were sufficient for their needs.
However, in 1859, the War Department decided to build a Sanatorium at Wynberg to receive sick troops from India. This eventually evolved into a hospital in 1899. No 1 General Hospital was demolished and was replaced by 2 Military Hospital. Still an active part of the South African Military Health Service, this hospital has responsibility for the South African president's health when resident in Cape Town.
In the 1880s plans were made to expand the base with barracks, a guard room, a garrison classroom, stores, an officers mess, and other buildings. The Victorian-style Garrison Officers' Mess (now called the Army Officers' Club) established in this era is now a Provincial Heritage Site and celebrated its centenary in November 1988. Among its early visitors was Captain R.S.S. Baden-Powell, later Lieutenant General Lord Baden-Powell and founder of the Boy Scout Movement.
The nearby Wynberg village (GC821KZ) was important in the early life on the base and their fortunes were intertwined. The Standard Inn, in nearby Wolfe Street, served as the enlisted men's pub, and many married officers lived in the village. Similarly, the troops stationed at Wynberg frequently paraded at St John's Church (GC8EEF4) until a Garrison Church was established in 1905.
When the first world war broke out, the British handed the base over to the Union of South Africa in order to release the garrison for service elsewhere. The South Africans used the camp for the training of volunteers to aid the war effort. And thus began the base's modern history as a part of the South African Defence Force.
Wynberg is still an active military base and has many modern amenities including a heated pool, a floodlit football stadium, While many of the original buildings have been replaced with modern multi-story blocks of flats, a few examples of the original wood-and-iron buildings remain.
It is usually possible to visit the base via the modern entrance, as a number of the facilities (such as the pool) are open to the public. There's also an old howitzer mounted at the intersection between St John's & Camp roads.
Note: the entrance to the base near the cache, while closed, has a hole in the fence that appears to be used as a thoroughfare for pedestrian traffic trying to sneak things into the camp. Per the attributes, attempting this cache is not recommended at night.
The cache is deliberately away from the active entrance of the base. If you choose to visit the main entrance (which you can do on the way to GC8EEF4), you should be aware that it's an active defence facility and the muggles are the soldiering kind.
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