The coastal route to Cape Point makes the journey as sweet as the destination. Oliver Keohane details a summertime trip to one of Africa’s southernmost points.
There is a uniquely oppressive heat in Cape Town come late January that runs intermittently through February. If you’re a local, you welcome it; you even boast about how foreigners don’t know that ‘the best months are February to March’.
But, on the particularly hot days of high UV index and zero wind (a rarity), we locals seem perplexed and often slightly defeated. It was one of these particularly stifling days that we had arranged to make the pilgrimage to one of the southernmost points of Africa and, despite my resistance, the plans could not be changed.
I peeled myself off my chair and plonked begrudgingly into the driver’s seat of an Isuzu D-Max X-Rider. I was required to get some content on the beautiful bakkie that we had in our test fleet, and I had run out of time.
My partner and I stay about a kilometre from an extraordinary perspective of the Atlantic Ocean. At the crest of Kloof Nek, just past the traffic lights between Table Mountain and Signal Hill, lies a panoramic view of the sea that stuns me every time. It was an easy call to take the coastal road over the afternoon traffic of the M3.
Bringing the distinctive diesel engine to life, we set off up Kloof Nek, greeted immediately by the calming blue of the familiar view. Leaving Clifton and Camps Bay behind, we passed through Hout Bay – always some bustle going on in the Republic – and made our way onto Chapman’s Peak.
As we paid our toll fee (R64 for normal cars and bikes) and wound up the epic cliff faces, I realised it had been years since I’d driven one of the most iconic roads in the world. On a 32-degree summer’s day in Cape Town, the road is at its most magical. To the left, carved-out cliff faces and rocky catchments; to the right, a sheer drop into the icy Cape waters. A glorious contrast.
Soaking in the sun and the shimmering sea from the safety of an air-conditioned cabin, watching an hour forty become one hour on Google Maps, and listening to some of our favourite music, I was reminded of the small moments along the way that make final destinations so rewarding.
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After coming off the coast and passing through Noordhoek and Fish Hoek, the beachfront greets you again. Glencairn and then the quirky, colonial coastline of Simon’s Town. ‘Doesn’t this place just look like it was left behind?’ said my partner. ‘I love it.’
While we chose the Simon’s Town route, Scarborough and Misty Cliffs offer a mystical path to Cape Point too – another coastline in Cape Town’s epic collection of marine borders.
Just like that, we were at the entrance to the Cape of Good Hope. Much cooler than town, much greener and a good few knots windier. South African residents get away with a R105 entry fee (Children R55), while prices increase for South African Development Community (SADC) and other internationals.
The Cape of Good Hope houses a number of animal species and incredibly diverse birdlife, but most strikingly, it is home to the Cape Floral Kingdom, full of rich Fynbos that gobbles up vehicles as they head into the distance, compasses pointed towards the rocky outcrop at the tip of the national park, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans draw closer (the official meeting point is at Cape Agulhas).
Accounting for much of the magnificence of the area are the cliffs – some over 200 metres above the Atlantic – that seem to stretch on forever, halved by cloud lines, guarding the peninsula from millions of years of onslaught from the notorious waves of the two oceans. ‘The Cape of Storms’ earned its name for good reason, with legend linking the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship doomed to sail forever, to Cape Point.
Standing proudly and, I must admit, a little ominously, at the top of the headland is the Cape Point Lighthouse, 87 metres above sea level. Erected in 1919, the current lighthouse sits high above a steep climb but remains significantly lower than its predecessor, which stood at 238 metres above sea level and was apparently responsible for one too many shipwrecks with its head in the clouds.
Anyway, the lighthouse is the highest point of the tip, and while we chose to battle the gale force winds and climb the roughly 500m route to the top, the Flying Dutchman Funicular means there is transport for those with disabilities, the elderly, or the able-bodied and young who would prefer a less strenuous experience of the panoramic views.
At the foot of the point, visitors can enjoy fresh seafood at the Two Oceans restaurant, explore maps and histories at the visitors centre and sort through memorabilia at the gift store.
Our trip to the Cape of Good Hope was an intentional destination: a leisurely cruise of the peninsula, marked by a summit at the lighthouse. But if you have the time and enjoy exploring on foot more than four wheels, go early and stay the day. There are epic hikes and stunning rocky beaches inside the reserve that deserve more than just an afternoon drive.
With the sun still high at 6 o’clock, we doubled back down the main road and set off for the little stretch of coastline left in the past. A best friend of mine, who is a lover of craft beer and red meat, recommended Charlie’s Garage and the Hickory Shack, a wonderful meeting point of slow-cooked brisket and cold craft beer on St George’s Street in Simon’s Town.
We stopped for a perfectly cooked burger and Taco Tuesday and, as we ate, watched baboons dominate the strip in the last light of the day. As the sun set, it was off to Boyes Drive and onto the M3 for a quicker, equally calm return home.
As a destination, Cape Point was magnificent in a way that only a monster cliff face near the most southern tip of Africa can be. As a journey, it was a reminder of the magic of the Western Cape.
The winding coastal road as we began the trip and the serene evening route back gave me a good few hours of perspective on the beauty of our surrounds, the accessibility of our city and the fact that no amount of stifling heat warrants frustration when your job is to take a brand new bakkie up into one of South Africa’s most renowned national parks and experience the mystery of the cliffs at the Cape of Good Hope and the magic of two oceans meeting.
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Pictures: Oliver Keohane
