This past Sunday part of our group hiked up Lion’s Head, a
mountain in Cape Town between the famed Table Mountain and Signal Hill. While we haven’t hiked Table Mountain yet (we
are planning on it soon!) during our tour of the notable Bo-Kaap neighborhood
this past Saturday we spent part of the day on Signal Hill to watch the daily
firing of the historic Noon Gun. In
turn, when starting our hike up Lion’s Head I was happy to feel decently
oriented to the surrounding areas and enjoyed taking in and identifying other parts
of Cape Town our group had already started to explore or were planning on visiting
soon.
While most of the path was along a steep dirt trail, the
final descent towards the summit did involve a bit of hectic scrambling on my
end to get up the sharper steep segments of rocky faces. Although there were moments where I debated whether
or not I should attempt this final vertical ascend, I decided to carry on and
the views from the 669 m (2,195 ft) summit were absolutely spectacular and
worth the last push. Growing up in San
Francisco, I’d like to say I am accustomed to hills and great views but the outlook
from Lion’s Head was unlike anything I had ever seen before. While our group
has experienced other stunning views from car rides over passes surrounding
Cape Town and through assorted shorter walks that we’ve taken, the 360 panoramic
views overlooking the surrounding downtown areas and other neighborhoods of
Cape Town, Camps Bay and the Atlantic Ocean were absolutely unique and quite fantastic.
Hanging out on the summit for a bit also allowed for some quality interactions with other hikers and we were happy to get advice from some more seasoned climbers on what route would be best to take for when we decide to tackle table mountain. We also got to play with quite the cute little dog (still curious how she managed to get up the sheer rocks) and had an interesting time talking to her owner, who was from Cape Town. It was nice to hear that a good number of locals frequently enjoyed hiking and visiting Lion’s Head along with the thousands of visitors who come each year. I’m looking forward to our further hiking adventures during our down time here when we aren’t in class, at our assorted internship sites, touring local public health facilities or exploring other exciting spots and can’t wait to see what new views and experiences are to come from our future treks!
- Toby Harris
