A group of Rhino Africans decided to embrace the Cape Town summer and climb Lion’s Head before work yesterday! I must admit that I am definitely not known for being a morning person and the sound of the alarm clock at 5am was met with a groan. But once we were up on the mountain we were spellbound by the views of our striking city. The magic of Cape Town for those who live in “The Mother City” is that we really do appreciate our surroundings. It’s hard not to when we have a beautifully strange shaped mountain in our back “garden”! Furthermore, we couldn’t have picked a more perfect day. Cape Town can be windy during the summer months but the ocean was still, the moon still setting and sun lazily rising over the Stellenbosch mountains.
Lion’s Head is a great walk because it is a relatively easy stride (albeit all uphill!) that spirals around Lion’s Head and offers the walker spectacular panoramas from so many different angles. The first part allows you to view Table Mountain, the Cable Car and the 12 Apostles mountains that hug the coastline from the Camps Bay to Hout Bay. Just when you start to get a little tired you are again inspired by a different view overlooking the famous Clifton beaches and out onto the endless ocean horizon. Next you can view Sea Point and then the city centre where the contrasts between the mountains and the high rise buildings give such a true reflection of the cities contrasts. Then comes the last steeper climb, up the chains and up the last tier and hey presto you have reached the Lion’s head summit ;-).
From the top you can see the whole city and we were very grateful for the early rise that enabled us to dreamily watch the city come to life below us. Thanks to Jan – our in-house mountaineer and Table Mountain rescue team volunteer for initiating the climb that we have now endeavoured to do every Wednesday morning! So if you’re in Cape Town and you’d like to join us, give us a call on +27.21.4692600 and we’ll see you bright and early on Wednesday!
