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| The cloudy mountain range of Cape Town taken from Robben island |
Though Table Mountain dominates the landscape of Cape Town, my obsession is with the small peak on the right hand side - Lion's head. It looks like a sleeping lion on top of a hill. It can be seen around the City bowl and from the Atlantic Seaboard. Every morning when I wake up it is the first thing I see from my pillow when I open my eyes. When it's cloudy his head is covered with cloud and mist. From here, the sun sets behind the lion causing a golden glow every evening.
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| Lion's head taken in the evening from Vredehoek |
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| Slacklning in De Waal Park |
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| Lion's head seen from Clifton Main Road |
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| The start of a path leading up to Lion's Head from Kloof Nek road |
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| Taken out of the window of my bedroom in the house I used to stay in |
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| Lion's head taken from town |
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| The view of Lion's head from up above on Table Mountain |
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| The Twelve apostles mountains and Lion's head taken from the top of Llandudno |
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| Moonlight and streetlight taken from the top of Camps Bay |
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| Lion's head from my bedroom as the sun sets |
One of my favourite hobbies in Cape Town is climbing Lion's Head. It's about a 2 hour gently hike up and down, it's a good afternoon activity. I've now managed to climb it 8 times, even once I went up 3 times in a week. On my first trip up the mountain I took some lovely token scenic shots on my compact camera.
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| Twelve apostles mountain range viewed from halfway up Lion's head. Looking out over Camps Bay |
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| Looking at Table Mountain as the sun is setting |
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| Devil's peak standing tall behind the City Bowl |
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| Sunset over camps Bay from the top of Lion's head |
As you wind around the mountain you get a view across the city from different angles. We usually start from the top of Kloof Nek on the side facing the city bowl. We start with an uphill walk with the city bowl behind us and walk to the Atlantic seaboard side. On one beautiful summer's day, a group of us ascended the mountain in the early afternoon. I documented the adventure in pictures...
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| The uphill walk to begin the hike |
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| Walking with the side of Table Mountain on the left |
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| Continuing uphill |
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| Scenic break - the twelve apostles mountain range and you can see Camps Bay beach down below |
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| More uphill |
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| Dan, Dori and Lenoy heading away from table mountain |
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| Climbing the stairs |
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| Walking round Lion's head we can see more of the coastline - Clifton beaches |
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| Sea Point to the left and Signal Hill in front |
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| Looking up at the mountain we still need to climb |
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| Carla at the top of one of two ladders to help the ascent |
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| Walking back around to the city bowl side. Table Mountain to the right and the city infront |
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| Table mountain |
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| looking back at signal hill |
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| "The chains" - helping you to climb up the vertical side of the mountain |
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| Kim climbing the chains |
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| Looking down over the chains we just climbed |
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| Lenoy and Kim taking a break to admire the view |
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| The burnt tree stump, you can see a lot effects of fire across the mountains |
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| Looping back round, now seeing the twelve apostles from higher up |
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| looks close to the top |
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| As we get closer to the top we circle round quicker back to the city side - Table Moutnain |
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| Looking back again at signal hill in the distance |
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| The second ladder |
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| Vegitation |
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| Looking out over Sea Point and Green point, nearly at the top |
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| Finally relaxing at the top |
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| Dan and Dori chilling at the top |
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| Carla and I at the top as it starts to get misty |
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| Dan's victory at the top! |
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| Yoni, me and Kim with the marker showing we'd reached the top (Taken on a different trip) |
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| Going back down |
I have been up Lion's head it many different weather conditions. On Christmas day we thought i'd be a good idea to head up after a good lie in and started the hike at 10:30. This was a big mistake... The sun was constantly above us and the Lion gave us no shade on either side. We almost abandoned our pursuit half way up due to the heat. Eventually we made it to to the top and and looked out at the icy cold Atlantic sea temping us for a cool off. One late afternoon in November we were greeted by a mass of fog over the Lion, though we couldn't see much most of the way, we enjoyed the cool air to get us through the climb.
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| Me at the top on a sunny day |
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| Me at the top on a foggy afternoon |
My favourite thing to do is to climb later in the day and make it to the top for sunset. By this point it's useful to have a torch on the way down because it can get pretty dark.
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| Sunset over camps bay |
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| The shadow of the Lion reaching out over town |
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| Kim pondering life whilst watching the sun go down |
On a lion's head trip with my cousin, we met an Israeli wedding photographer. We took a slow trip down while he staged wedding style photos of the two of us as the sun began to set.
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| My cousin Eden, me and our Israeli friend |
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| Eden and me admiring the sunset halfway down the mountain |
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| Eden and me with the Twelve apostles behind us |
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| Eden and me with Lion's Head behind us |
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| Eden and me with Table Mountain |
Lion's Head is definitely one of my favourite activities in Cape Town. It's amazing to be able to see the whole city from above, something you don't get naturally in most cities. It's a great social experience and a great way to get to know the geography of Cape Town. I highly recommend it to Captonians and tourists.
