Tag Archives: lion’s head

Cloudy Lion from Maiden’s Cove

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Cloudy Lion from Maiden's Cove
Yep, that's my shadow at the bottom, and that's Lion's Head to the left. :-P The clouds look really low from this angle don't you think? Or, perhaps it's just that Lion's Head is higher above sea level than we realise. ;)

Lion’s Head – the view from Oudekraal

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Lion's Head - the view from Oudekraal
The word "oudekraal" can be translated directly to "old pen", where pen isn't a sword's replacement - rather the type of pen where animals are held. This spot, somewhere between Camps Bay and Llandudno is a well known beach picnic spot.

Entry costs R30 for adults, and it's slightly cheaper for kids - though I never actually paid proper attention to recall what age qualifies as "kids" and how much entrance costs. The entrance fee buys you braai (barbecue) spots, grassy areas, a few benches, and reasonably clean lavatories - well, for the beach that is.

I'll share a more photos from the area in my next few posts.

A Lion’s Head in passing

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A Lion's Head in passing
I was really surprised how many people were parked at the lower entrance to the Lion's Head hiking trail. I live about an half an hour outside of Cape Town, and it would be really nice to live closer - to take more opportunistic advantage of such beautiful sunny windless mornings. :)

2014’s Moonstruck at Clifton 4th Beach

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Moonstruck at Clifton 4th Beach
Each year around Valentine's Day one of our local radio stations, CapeTalk, hosts a huge beach party on Clifton 4th Beach, in aid of our much-loved National Sea Rescue Institute.

A stage gets erected, a band is appointed, and people flock to the beach with picnic baskets, bikinis, boardshorts and boomerangs (only kidding, Cape Town isn't in Australia). This year CapeTalk, and Discovery (this year's sponsor), invited The Solid Gold Session band to let their mix of 60s, 70s, and 80s hits spill out over the families and friends gathered on the beach.

I couldn't make it before 9pm, and really only arrived once the official party had stopped - but, just in time to see the full moon start to peak over Lion's Head. See the photos below. Isn't it pretty? Don't you wish you'd been there? :)

Clouds at sunset

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Clouds at sunset
The moon was just-about full, and I guess most thought it would be a perfect evening to hike up Lion's Head. The thing was, even though it's summer, and the day had been really warm, we had enough cloud-cover to obscure the moon almost completely - making the descent dark and slow-going. I remember looking at the top part of Lion's Head when we reached the bottom, noticing how the flashlights formed a sort of sigma symbol as they zigzagged down the hill.

The golden ocean picnic spot

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The golden ocean
The rock on which those folk are standing is a little lower down from the main pathway the leads up Lion's Head. Besides for the top of Lion's Head (with it's 360° views) - that's a pretty perfect place for a picnic heh?

Get fit on Lion’s Head

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Get fit on Lion's Head
It's a beautiful view of the Twelve Apostles and Camps Bay, don't you think?

On good-weather days hundreds of people walk up Lion's Head - and then you get the few like the two in the lower left corner that sprint up the hill.

The average person will take an hour, or perhaps an hour and a half, to walk up Lion's Head, whereas the two in this photo probably took only twenty or thirty minutes to hit the summit.

The problem with running up the hill is that as the path narrows and the cliffs become more treacherous, it's pretty darn dangerous for the runner and for the people they're running past. I think it was last year that someone graciously stepped aside for a runner, lost their footing, and fell to their death.

Use Lion's head to get fit - but don't endanger others - rather walk the narrow sections.

Hiking Lion’s Head from Signal Hill

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Signal hill, a view from Lion's Head
Friends enticed us into walking up Lion's Head on Friday evening. Truth be told, they never had to convince us - just look at the view!

We only arrived at about 19h00, a little later than we'd hoped. By that time our friends had already walked about 70% of the way up to the top, and we'd driven about a kilometer past the start of the hike to find a spot to park. We knew that we wouldn't make it to the top by sunset, so we decided to take a different route, around the right side of Lion's Head - starting from Signal Hill.

The route we took was quite a long, comfortable, footpath that winds around the top of Sea Point and Bantry Bay, finally taking a steep switchback route to meet up with the main path to reach the summit. This photo was taken on the switchback, just before reaching the main path.

I'll post a few more pics in the next day or two. It really was a pretty pretty sunset from above.

Love indigenous

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Love indigenous
As I've mentioned before, the Green Point Park is filled with indigenous plants. I imagine the vegetation in this scene looks quite different to that back home where you live, not so?

If you're not familiar with Cape Town, then perhaps you wouldn't recognise that green hill as being Signal Hill - although if you've ever visited here I can't imagine you'd mistake the one in the background for anything other than Lion's Head. Kinda pretty, don't you think?

Just above the city

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Table Mountain and Lion's Head from Signal Hill
Taking a sharp right turn at the top of Kloof Nek road will lead you up, above the city, along the side of Signal Hill, and past Lion's Head (the peak visible in this photo).

There are a few short hiking trails in this area - and since you're so close to the city, it's quite difficult to get very lost. Take at least a litre of water along per person, a warm top, and a pair of closed shoes. Also, hike in groups of three or four... our nature borders on a city, after all.

Save, and keep handy, the Mountain Club of South Africa's number (+27 21 937 0300) as well as the number for crime-related incidents (+27 86 110 6417) on your mobile phone. Those numbers may come in super handy some day. There are a few other numbers here, but they seem to be two individual's personal mobile numbers, so I'll rather just link to the MSCA page.