CAPE TOWN, DAY 2
Running up Lion’s Head. After getting back from the morning hike, getting lunch and catching up with people from the hostel I decided to hike Lions Head for sunset with the idea it would save me doing it another day and free up more time!
WE WERE LATE AND THE DRIVER DECIDED NOW TO BE A GOOD TIME TO REFUEL
After persuading my Dutch roommate Ruben who had also hiked table mountain today we jumped into an Uber and immediately made the driver aware that we had 45mins to get to the top.
THE TRAFFIC
Now considering it takes 5mins (on a good day) to drive there and an hour to hike it we knew we were up against it. It got a lot harder once we noticed the traffic leading up to the start. This road between Cape Town and Camps Bay is known as clutch hell as there are often cars which don’t make it to the top.
ANEXITY
To really take the piss the driver decided to stop for fuel. At this stage our anxiety was through the roof, we could see the sun how close the sun was to setting and were still determined not to let it beat us!
30 MINUTES OF GRAFT
Eventually we got to the gates, jumped out and we ran for the first few minutes before my body reminded me that I had only hiked Table Mountain a few hours before. Ruben is something else though, relentless and I’m not one to give up easily so we ploughed on! After the most strenuous 30 minutes we made it with minutes to spare.
As expected the views here are magnificent and with only a few metres walk to either side you can see both Cape Town and Camps Bay. The benefit of sunset is seeing the city light up. The pair of us could have hung around for hours but with it getting dark we needed to move on.
LADDERS
You have to climb areas towards the top so at times you have to take your time getting down but what we couldn’t believe was passing people who were only just on their way up, it was pitch dark! I would allow 1hour to hike and 1 hour at the top just to be sure you get down well before its dark otherwise its pointless and dangerous, as we found out!
FINAL THOUGHTS
My first full day in South Africa and it is already become one of my best places! Lions Head hike is yet another must do for anyone visiting Cape Town. Although at this rate there might be 2months worth of “must dos.”
NEXT UP
Diving with Great White Sharks tomorrow, surely that’s on everyone’s bucket list? Click to read.
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
118/229
This post is part of the Southern Africa Series, click to explore or for episode 1 click here.
To watch the video of my trip, head to my highlights on my Instagram.
