Explore Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula
Most people come to the Cape of Good Hope section of the Table Mountain National Park to see the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Point. In fact, the continent’s real tip is at Cape Agulhas, some 300km southeast of here, but Cape Point is a lot easier to get to and a hugely dramatic spot. The reserve sits atop massive sea cliffs with huge views, strong seas and, when it’s blowing southeast, gales that whip off caps and sunglasses as visitors gaze southwards from the old lighthouse buttress.
From the car park, the famous viewpoint is a short, steep walk up a series of stairs to the original lighthouse. A funicular (R45 return) runs the less energetic to the top, where there’s a curio shop.
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Cape Point and around
Cape Point and around
Cape Point is the treacherous promontory of rocks, winds and swells braved by navigators since the Portuguese first “rounded the Cape” in the fifteenth century. Plenty of wrecks lie submerged off its coast, and at Olifantsbos on the west side you can walk to a US ship sunk in 1942, and a South African coaster that ran aground in 1965. The Old Lighthouse, built in 1860, was too often dangerously shrouded in cloud, and failed to keep ships off the rocks, so another was built lower down in 1914. It’s not always successful in averting disasters, but is still the most powerful light beaming onto the sea from South Africa.
Walking
Most visitors make a beeline for Cape Point, seeing the rest of the reserve through a vehicle window, but walking is the best way to appreciate the dramatic landscape and flora.
There are several waymarked walks in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. If you’re planning a big hike it’s best to set out early, and take plenty of water, as shade is rare and the wind can be foul. One of the most straightforward hiking routes is the signposted forty-minute trek from the car park at Cape Point to the more westerly Cape of Good Hope. For exploring the shoreline, a clear path runs down the Atlantic side, which you can join at Gifkommetjie, signposted off Cape Point Road. From the car park, several sandy tracks drop quite steeply down the slope across rocks, and through bushes and milkwood trees to the shore, along which you can walk in either direction. The Hoerikwaggo Table Mountain Trail is a popular four-day, five-night hike from Table Mountain to Cape Point along the Peninsula spine. There are overnight huts along the way and you can do just one or more of the 17–18km sections (from R42/person a night;
t
021 683 7826,
w
www.hoerikwaggotrail.org).The beaches
A single main road runs from the Cape Point entrance to the car park, restaurant and funicular. A number of roads branch off this, each leading to one of the series of beaches on either side of the peninsula. The sea is too dangerous for swimming, but there are safe tidal pools at the Buffels Bay and Bordjiesrif beaches, which are adjacent to each other, midway along the east shore. Both have braai stands, but more southerly Buffels Bay is the nicer, with big lawned areas and some sheltered spots to have a picnic.
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Cape Point
Cape Point
Cape Point is the treacherous promontory of rocks, winds and swells braved by navigators since the Portuguese first “rounded the Cape” in the fifteenth century. Plenty of wrecks lie submerged off its coast, and at Olifantsbos on the west side you can walk to a US ship sunk in 1942, and a South African coaster that ran aground in 1965. The Old Lighthouse, built in 1860, was too often dangerously shrouded in cloud, and failed to keep ships off the rocks, so another was built lower down in 1914. It’s not always successful in averting disasters, but is still the most powerful light beaming onto the sea from South Africa.
Most visitors make a beeline for Cape Point, seeing the rest of the reserve through a vehicle window, but walking is the best way to appreciate the dramatic landscape and flora.
There are several waymarked walks in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. If you’re planning a big hike it’s best to set out early, and take plenty of water, as shade is rare and the wind can be foul. One of the most straightforward hiking routes is the signposted forty-minute trek from the car park at Cape Point to the more westerly Cape of Good Hope. For exploring the shoreline, a clear path runs down the Atlantic side, which you can join at Gifkommetjie, signposted off Cape Point Road. From the car park, several sandy tracks drop quite steeply down the slope across rocks, and through bushes and milkwood trees to the shore, along which you can walk in either direction. The Hoerikwaggo Table Mountain Trail is a popular four-day, five-night hike from Table Mountain to Cape Point along the Peninsula spine. There are overnight huts along the way and you can do just one or more of the 17–18km sections (from R42/person a night; 021 683 7826, www.hoerikwaggotrail.org).
A single main road runs from the Cape Point entrance to the car park, restaurant and funicular. A number of roads branch off this, each leading to one of the series of beaches on either side of the peninsula. The sea is too dangerous for swimming, but there are safe tidal pools at the Buffels Bay and Bordjiesrif beaches, which are adjacent to each other, midway along the east shore. Both have braai stands, but more southerly Buffels Bay is the nicer, with big lawned areas and some sheltered spots to have a picnic.
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Furry felons
Furry felons
Baboons may look amusing, but be warned: they can be a menace. Keep your car windows closed, as it’s not uncommon for them to invade vehicles, and they’re adept at swiping picnics. You should lock your car doors even if you only plan to get out for a few minutes to admire the view as there are growing reports of baboons opening unlocked car doors while the vehicle owner’s back is turned. Avoid unwrapping food or eating or drinking anything if baboons are in the vicinity. Feeding them is illegal and provocative and can incur a fine. Authorized baboon-chasers are in evidence in several places, warding them off.
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Cape fauna
Cape fauna
Along with indigenous plants and flowers, you may well spot some of the animals living in the fynbos habitat on Cape Point. Ostriches stride through the low fynbos, and occasionally African penguins come ashore. A distinctive bird on the rocky shores is the black oystercatcher with its bright red beak, jabbing limpets off the rocks. You’ll also see Cape cormorants in large flocks on the beach or rocks, often drying their outstretched wings. Running up and down the water’s edge (where, as on any other beach walk in the Cape, you’ll see piles of shiny brown Ecklonia kelp) are white-fronted plovers and sanderlings, probing for food left by the receding waves.
As for mammals, baboons lope along the rocky shoreline, and grazing on the heathery slopes are bontebok, eland and red hartebeest, as well as Cape rhebok and grysbok. If you’re very lucky, you may even see some of the extremely rare Cape mountain zebras.
What you will undoubtedly see are rock agama lizards, black zonure lizards and rock rabbits (dassies).
