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Last Saturday we already got a little taste of what’s summer is going to be like. It was HOT, blue skies, no wind and just absolutely beautiful. So time to get out and get onto that beautiful mountain of ours.  You start from  the parking lot at Rhodes Memorial. You COULD have a GREAT breakfast at the tea room there but big chance you won’t start your hike and get toooo comfortable. Leave a few cars at the Kirstenbosch side so you don’t need to walk back (!).

The way up from Rhodes Memorial

I would say the hike is fairly easy in the beginning but when you get close to Kirstenbosch there’s still quite a long way up to come.We didn’t count on that and were surprised. You walk on the contour path from where about the block hut is to the top of Kirstenbosch. The views over the city and False Bay, obviously, are stunning and on this clear day we could see all the way to Hangklip on the other side of the bay. They have done the trail very nicely. There are many boardwalks that make it easy to walk. However, there were quite some spots were we had to scramble over the big rocks that came down with all the rains in August. Kirstenbosch is at it’s most beautiful this time of the year because all the flowers are just so colourful and look great. It was Saturday afternoon so many Capetonians were sitting in the garden having a picnic and enjoying the last weekend of the school holidays. We were just happy to lie down and relaxing our knees a bit after the long way down. It took us about 3 hours to complete. It’s a nice walk for hot days because you walk most of the  time in the forest and are sheltered from the sun.

In Summertime Kirstenbosch organises Summer concerts on Sunday afternoons which are very popular and I can absolutely recommend you go to one when you’re here. It’s great fun to bring your snacks, bubly and just chill.

View over False Bay

See almost to Cape Point!

Devil's Peak

Ravine