Wildlife & Hiking Trails

While most tourist buses stay parked at Cape Point main lot, putting on your hiking boots reveals the true, untouched wilderness of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Walking through blooming endemic proteas and restio fynbos, you'll encounter rare bontebok antelopes grazing near the road, ostriches striding along empty white sandy beaches, and troops of wild Chakma baboons foraging for shell shellfish.

My favorite trail is the 3 km SS Thomas T. Tucker Shipwreck Trail starting at Olifantsbos. It follows the shoreline past nesting black oystercatchers directly to the rusted iron ribs of an American Liberty ship wrecked in 1942. For swimming, bypass the dangerous undertow of Dias Beach and head to Venus Pool near Buffels Bay, a crystal-clear tidal basin protected from ocean rollers at low tide.