Cape Town hiking
One of my favourite walks in Cape Town which has some of the most spectacular views from anywhere on the Table Mountain Chain begins in Silvermine East and takes you to the top of both Muizenberg Peak and St James Peak. One of the nice things about this walk is that you actually begin to walk at around 300m, and the highest point you reach is the top of Muizenberg Peak at 507m. So although not an easy walk, it doesn’t have any huge steep climbs such as are found on many other walks on Table Mountain.
The view of Noordhoek from Muizenberg Peak
To get the starting point and car park you need to drive to the top of Ou Kaapse Weg. Here you turn into Silvermine on the left (if travelling towards Noordhoek) There is a large parking area here with a R5 parking fee. From the parking area follow the jeep track for +/- 1km until you come to a junction. Take the left fork and continue along the jeep track for another km. Here at another junction you continue straight on for another km. Here the jeep track takes a sharp turn to the right and becomes more path like. Look for a smaller path leading off to the left. A small plaque on a rock indicates this as the path to Muizenberg Peak. Although the jeep track has been climbing steadily since you started this next 500m is the steepest section of the walk. The path leads onto a shoulder and you take a path to the right which leads you onto the mountains ridge. Here you follow the ridge for 500m with wonderfull views on both sides. On your left you have False Bay and the entire Southern suburbs, whilst on your right you can see almost the entire Silvermine Valley with Noordhoek in the distance.
Overlooking False Bay, from Muizenberg Peak
The next section of your walk takes you back down the mountain where you come to another junction. Left will take you down a steep path to Boyes drive, whilst right will take you back onto the jeep track and the way you came. Rather go straight ahead on a clear path and take the first clear path to the left. This leads you straight to the top of St James Peak. From here you look almost directly down onto surfers corner in Muizenberg. Finally continue to follow the path back onto a jeep track. At the jeep track turn right and at the next junction left. You are now back on the jeep track where you began.
