Hiking Trail: Kapteins Peak / Karbonkelberg
Name of Reserve / Area: Table Mountain National Park
Nearest Town: Houtbay, Llundudno
Province: Western Cape
Country: South Africa
Duration of hike: 2 hours 30 min
Directions to get there: From Cape Town CBD, follow the beach road which hugs the mountain via Campsbay towards Llundudno, then drive into Houtbay Main Road. Continue straight with this road through Houtbay all the way pass the Houtbay Harbour. Take the first road right up towards the mountain. At T-junction turn right into Karbonkelberg Road. 2nd road right again into Bayview Road. Follow Bayview Road all the way to the top. This road is very windey, but follow your nose in a upward direction and you should not go too far wrong.
Best time of year to go: Any time is good. This is a very exposed route with no trees for shade on a hot summers day, so do be careful if you wish to choose this route in summer.
What costs did you incur to do this hike: none
How safe is it: from a security point of view, I would not recommend that you go up here alone. This is a perfect easy walk for the dogs, so we felt safe having the Dobies to protect us.
Fresh Water: none
Difficulty: easy stroll to the top, but once you reach the eroded sections it becomes a dangerous walk. We did not go all the way to the Karbonkelberg, we only went to Kapteins Peak, and this was perfectly safe.
Pets: Yes. Remember to take extra water for the doggies. On our way down, we happen to pass a lady and her 7 unleashed dogs... (3 were large dogs) all wanting to sniff the dobermans. Lady please... PLEASE do not do this again if you can not control your unleashed dogs. This was not a very pleasant sight for all involved. For me to control a doberman who is being attacked by an unleashed dog proved to be impossible. Had they gone on any longer, there would have been no way that I would have been able to stop them.
I just fail to comprehend what goes on in a persons mind when they think this sort of activity is acceptable. Then again, I could be sarcastic and say that owning 7 dogs is just as questionable.
How will I rate this hike?
We wanted to find Kapteins Peak, which we did. It was fairly easy as it was the first hill on your right, as you start to cross over the steel mesh humps in the path going upwards.
To the left of the main path going up is known as the Long Drop (that we did the last time we came here) which gives you the most stunning views of a very isolated part of the coastline below.
But in our attempts to explore further, and maybe even go all the way to the old Radar house, built on the edge of the real Karbonkelberg, we were very much surprised to see how bad the path on this route was eroded.
It was so bad, that we decided to give it a miss for good, or at least until it could maybe be repaired. This path is still in the process of collapsing, and is in fact at its most dangerous during this time.
Lovely walk, but very dangerous at the time of writing this article - if u wish to go all the way to the top of Karbonkelberg - it is not recommended.
See my other article of The Karbonkelberg hiking trail.
Easy Walks in the Cape Peninsula
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