A scenic but hard walk from Houtbay to Llundudno

Hiking Trail: Houtbay to Llundudno
Name of Reserve / Area: Karbonkelberg
Nearest Town: Houtbay, Llundudno
Province: Western Cape
Country: South Africa

Duration of hike: 6 - 7 hours

Our Hiking Guide: Dieter Heiser - aka Bosvark (u gotta love it!)



Directions to get there: From Cape Town CBD, take the scenic coastal road past Campsbay and Llundudno. Follow the road into Houtbay untill you reach the 3rd circle at the bottom end of the road. Turn right into Harbour road, pass the Mariners Warf on the left and continue with this road all the way.



Take the last road right into Skipper road. This will lead to a gravel road and a dead end. I do not recommend that you leave your car here, but this is where your walk starts (as seen in the pic below). We parked our cars at the Mariners Warf Restaurant and hitched a ride to the start of the walk. (We were also told that we were not allowed to park at this parking spot by the car guard of the restaurant, but do not let the owners bully you into moving your car. This is a public common ground parking area and there for everyone's use.)



Best time of year to go: (there are 4 things to take note of here)

1. A very early start (around 06h00) is recommended for the summer. You are walking in the shade almost 2/3 of the way.
2. This section of the mountain is fairly protected from a NW wind in winter, but caution is always recommended.
3. Make sure you start when the tide is going down, or else you will have to climb steep cliffs in places to escape the high tide.
4. This route is only recommended to be done by an experienced guide like Bosvark, do not attempt to do this one on your own.
   

We all gathered at the starting point marked by an old stone wall being a clear entrance to the start of this magnificent walk.



What costs did you incur to do this hike: none, but the guides may ask for a fee.

How safe is it: I always say that the mountains around Cape Town are never safe from crime and one should never drop your guard. Always take a mace spray and or a shocker along with you.
The phone signal is very poor and sometimes non-existent.
The route is exposed in many areas. Rock scrambling and bolder hopping is par for the course. According to the hikers in the know, every year this route has claimed lives, so please do not attempt this route on your own.



The route starts with a single track and bolder hopping for the better half of the way. Here is a view of our first peak that we pass, the Sentinel (331m) on the right as seen in the pic above.



Fresh Water: none, unless you are fortunate enough to pass a small running stream from the mountain. We often stopped to take a 5 min break and to re-group.





After bolder hopping for about an hour the route flattens out below the Karbonkelberg.



Another break on the rocks at Duiker Point and in front of a surfer spot known as the Dungeons - a world famous spot for surfers who wish to catch the biggest wave in Africa.



Leaving Duiker Point, we head off again to scramble the rocks below the cliffs of the Karbonkelberg.







The views along the entire way were breathtaking. The ocean was that beautiful sea-green and just to add to our delight, we saw a school of dolphins playing in the water below us.



Being the typical girl, my hands started feeling rather sensitive from this point on, and next time I do this walk, I will remember to bring my mountain bike gloves with me. At the end of the walk, I made a mental note that gloves and a medical kit is a must if I come here again. This route is just too isolated for you to not come fully prepared.



As seen in the pic above, again, we took another break, which gave the group a chance to regroup for the next 1 hour very tough leg to an area known as Leeugat by the first shipwreck (Bos 400 - 1994). From here we were exposed to the merciless heat of the day, and rough bush and shrub terrain.



A mere 1 meter of shade next to the rocks, gave us a welcome break from the sun and a chance to enjoy the opportunity to view this massive wreck from very close by.



This area known as Leeugat has 3 wrecks to prove what this part of the ocean has to offer on a bad weather day.

1. Bos 400 hit the rocks in June 1994 and all 18 of the crew survived by being airlifted safely to shore.
2. The Maori was a British steam ship that hit the rocks of the rocky peninsular known as Oudeschip (as seen far left in the pic above) in 1909. Only 22 of the 55 crew survived and she lies below the water to the right of this bay (as seen in the pic above).
3. The next shipwreck which can be seen on the rocks of Oudeschip landed there in 1986 known as the Harvest Capella. She was a long-liner owned by Sea Harvest.
   

After leaving the shipwreck Bos 400, we went scrambling again through very thick bush and schrubs for about 45 minutes - we reached the now deserted Rocket Station (built after the sinking of the Maori in 1909) at top of the rocky peninsular known as Oudeschip. Here is a clear view of the Harvest Capella. We chose not to go down into the valley, but opted to follow the jeep track above, which took on a easy walk down into Sandy bay. I saw many naked bodies all over the place. Most of the walkers could not wait to jump into the cold water, before taking the short 15 minute walk back to the carpark in Llundudno.

Difficulty: Its a long walk and only the fit and experienced hikers should attempt this. Many parts need rock scrambling, so if you have a fear for heights, then I will also recommend that you rather give this one a miss.

Pets: not recommended at all

How will I rate this hike? I have always wanted to walk here, but never knew the route existed. When Dieter invited me on his annual Houtbay to Llundudno walk (the 9th one this year!), I could not wait for it. The weather was perfect, the tides were low. The crowd that walked with us were awesome. I will not attempt this one on my own, but can not wait to take my friends along to show them parts of this route sometime in the future. The water at the famous Dungeons was flat as a pancake. It seemed like a different place to the one that Im normally used to seeing the biggest wave in Africa at. Very cool hike. Great memories to last a long time for me. Thanks again to Dieter and the guys who joined him on this walk. Also thanks to the gentleman that gave me his last plasters to cover my war-wound on my leg, and who saved me from being stuck in a deep pit in the rocks. Dolphins playing in the water below us... loved it all!




Thanks to Dieter and the very friendly crowd for an amazing experience.

Contact Information: email Bosvark

Karbonkelberg Erosion Warning

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

Chapman’s Peak and Silvermine from Noordhoek Beach

Hiking Trail: Chapman’s Peak and Silvermine from Noordhoek Beach

Name of Reserve / Area: The route falls within the Table Mountain National Park, which includes the Silvermine area.
Nearest Town: Cape Town
Province: Western Cape
Country: South Africa

Route: This hiking route climbs up from Noordhoek Beach to Chapman’s Peak (593m), drops down the other side to 321m and heads up again to 689m, before the final drop down to the Silvermine dam (440m) in Silvermine-west. Since it is not a circular route cars will be required at both ends.

Map: The area is covered by Peter Slingsby’s Silvermine map. However, note that the path from Noordhoek Beach to the top of Chapman’s Peak was recently laid out as part of the Silvermine trail and is not indicated on the current map.

Duration of hike: Roughly 5½ to 6 hours at a moderate pace, including 1½ hours for tea, lunch and photo stops.

Difficulty: Using the Meridian Hiking Club’s grading system, I’d call it a 3Bd – you have to be fairly fit to do this hike in comfort. The path does climb and drop a couple of times, but the steep sections don’t last long and the rest is gradual. There is no exposure to heights.

Directions to get there: From the Cape Town CBD, drive towards Muizenberg on the M3.

When it ends in a T-junction, turn right, cross over one set of traffic lights and turn left at the 2nd set into Ou Kaapse Weg (M64). Follow the pass up and, (to leave the cars at the official end-point of this walk). As soon as you reach the top of the pass, immediately turn right into the Silvermine Nature Reserve (roughly 26km from the Cape Town CBD). Follow the road to the left and, once through the entrance pay-point, drive up the tar road to the last parking lot. Leave a car here.

Return back to the main road - Ou Kaapse Weg, now turn right and drive down to the other side into Noordhoek. Turn right at the 1st opportunity into Silvermine Rd and then right at the T-junction into Noordhoek Main Rd (M6). Pass the Noordhoek Village centre on your right and two paddocks on your left, before turning left into Avondrust Circle. Turn 2nd right into Beach Rd and follow the signs to the beach parking lot (roughly 35km from the CBD).

What costs? R15 per person to drive into Silvermine in order to leave cars at the end-point - unless you have a free-entry Wild Card - and R5 per car guard at either end.

Best time of year to go: Anytime - we did it on a warm midwinter’s day. First prize would be a wind and rain-free day, either clear or with high cloud, so that you can enjoy the impressive vistas. Fynbos puts on a display in different areas at different times of the year. Check the weather and always go properly equipped for a possible severe drop in temperature.

Safety: Very safe, from a terrain perspective. It goes without saying to always be careful, from a crime perspective (don’t carry unnecessary valuables, keep a single-stream pepper spray handy and consider a specific plan of action, as a group, in case of an incident).

Fresh water: The Silvermine streams do flow in winter, but don’t count on it – take at least two litres of water in winter and at least three litres on a hot day.

Pets: Well-behaved - and fit! – hiking dogs are welcome on this route and there is no difficult terrain. Remember to take extra water, a small water bowl and enough snacks along for your pooch.

Route Description:

Below, our leader (Frank Dwyer) points out the route onto and up from Noordhoek beach, where we left our cars in the parking lot.



A serene sight with which to begin our hike - Noordhoek beach is famous for its occasional tidal pans.



Before reaching the end of the beach, look out for a carefully laid-out path that leads up to Chapmans Peak Drive (closed for construction at the time of writing - August 2009).



The new path above the road is clearly visible. The beach and a tidal pan are visible below us.



Gaining height through what looks like a tree graveyard - where trees come to die! This kind of evidence of fire damage combined with subsequent growth tells a dramatic tale of fynbos survival.



Moving up the western ridge, it seems improbable that Chapman’s Peak Drive could be hidden beyond the steep cliffs below.



As we gain height the views towards Hout Bay open up – to the left and in the foreground lies The Sentinel, behind it Karbonkelberg and to its right, in the distance, Little Lions Head. Our leader was nature guide Frank Dwyer, owner of Slackpacker SA, which offers catered and serviced day walks and overnight hiking trails.



Ancient geological history – and globalisation - lies exposed at our feet. Here we see two distinct rock types of vastly different ages - one ‘local’ and one ‘alien’. The alluvial quartz pebbles, by far the older of the two, would have been carried over a long distance down a large, ancient river from the Northern Hemisphere, before the split of the continents. At the end of their long journey they came to rest in what was then sedimentary sand and particles – the very stuff that was subsequently compressed into the hardened Table Mountain sandstone, which is about 500 million years old.



Moving around to the southeast-facing slope of Chapman’s Peak we were blown away by this rich winter-palette of fynbos.



Fynbos beauty at our feet, a big blue sky above, the vast Atlantic Ocean stretching away and fresh sea air in our lungs – an outdoor junkie’s nirvana.



From a lichens-covered sandstone perch we look down over Noordhoek Valley and on across the Silvermine-east peaks. It is hard to imagine that, with the sea level 25m higher than it is today at both around 1.5 and 5 million years ago, the Fish Hoek Channel created an island out of the rest of the Peninsula, from Elsies Peak (extreme right, below) all the way to Cape Point. (At the same time, everything between Fish Hoek-Noordhoek and the CBD was yet another island, cut off from the mainland by the Cape Flats Seaway, which connected False and Table Bays.) In the far distance, on the other side of False Bay, the Hottentot Hollands mountains are just visible on the extreme left, the Kogelberg Nature Reserve peaks in the centre and Hangklip on the extreme right.



As we turn to bag our peak we let our eyes feast again on this wild winter garden.



On top of Chapman’s Peak.



Suitably refreshed, it is time to give our descent muscles a workout.



Heading down towards Lower Chapman’s Peak, we look across to - from the right - Noordhoek Peak, Constantiaberg and, in the far distance, Table Mountain.



Back up again, and that was a bit of a slog. The route we followed down from Lower Chapman’s Peak is visible on the extreme left. To its right is the famous Chapman’s Peak Drive.



Near the 689m trig beacon for lunch, and time to contemplate from whence we came. And not just in terms of our hike - the pre-historic Fish Hoek (to Noordhoek) Channel, mentioned earlier, would have covered all that is flat down there.



From here on in our pictorial record becomes a bit sparse - the rugby enthusiasts amongst us were rushing to their favourite watering holes. The path joins up with the gravel road, where you have two options – left for a clockwise loop down to the Silvermine dam parking-lot (roughly 1 hr 30 min – without stops), or right for an anti-clockwise loop (roughly 1 hr). Option 1 soon passes just below the 754m large cairn of Noordhoek Peak – a scenic spot for a leisurely lunch - look out for the path leading left and up to it. Or walk on for another few minutes until you come to a short gravel road leading off to the left, for a lookout point over Hout Bay, below. For option 2, skip the next three pics.



Turn back to the main road and walk on to the left again. Either follow the road all the way down, or look out for a hiking path leading off to the right, to the lower section of the Amphitheatre Path, which rejoins the road further down. The car park is to the left of the dam wall, and the route passes behind the shady hill on the left, in the pic below.



Look out for this sign which points to yet another shortcut path, this one leading off to the left. (The road that can be seen dropping down from the right to the other end of the dam wall is the one that leads from the clockwise-option path, mentioned above.)



For the clockwise loop, turn right on top where the trail meets the gravel road and follow the bends down. On the 2nd right-hand bend, look out for a hiking trail that leads off to the left. It soon joins up with the Amphitheatre Path, seen below.



The route passes some weirdly-weathered sandstone formations, including Breakfast Slab and Shelter Rock.



Turn left when the path meets up with the gravel road and follow it down to the dam (Constantiaberg is visible in the background). Here you can either walk over the dam wall, or follow the gravel road to the car park on the other side.



Back at the car park the circular route leading away from the dam can clearly be seen on the Table Mountain National Park information board.



The writer of this route description is Belinda Oosthuizen (niceandsorted@gmail.com), writer and editor of website copy and general good-organiser. She’s happiest in the mountains and says, if she was forced to live elsewhere, her soul would constantly yearn for the sight and smell of fynbos. She also took most of the pics. For her, photography is a compulsion – a means by which to document and share the beauty of the mountains with others. She uses an Olympus FE-120, but she longs for a digital SLR camera.

Sam Greyvenstein, who took some of the pics, always comes complete with his camera slung around his neck while out on hikes. He says he takes photographs “for fun” and he uses a Kodak P850 digital SLR camera.

Other hiking trails in this blog of this Area:

• Elephants Eye Cave
• other Silvermine walks