
We made an early start at Kirstenbosch after sending our food and excess luggage up ahead with the Sanpark rangers...an hours orientation to these magnificent gardens turned up a Spotted Eagle Owl Chic on the ground near the Cycads with its concerned parents keeping an eye from overhead....The Pincushions are in full bloom in the Gardens as is South Africa's national flower the King Protea with its dinner plate size blooms...

Leaving the Gardens we made our way out via the Dam that draws water from the streams above and looped out on a segment of the Yellowwood Trail until turning up at Skeleton Gorge to join up with the Contour Path....
We stopped to view the breathtaking waterfall at the start of the Smuts Track and then turned South on the contour path to join Rooikat Ravine which then makes its way steeply up through Cecelia Ravine and past the beautiful Cecelia Waterfall

Vast areas have been cleared of alien pines and gums in recent times and this has afforded magnificent views of the Southern Peninsula and False bay while tackling the slog to the top

The Cottage is a home from home and far from basic...in fact its level of comfort, setting and facilities is about the best you can get for such a hike!!

We then followed the track of the old railway to the dramatic outlook over Kasteelspoort down into Camps Bay....
A rest and off again on the walk back this time over the wall of the Woodhead Dam looking down into Orange Kloof and Disa Gorge and then back to the Cottage for a relaxing evening after 22kms of great excercise and wonderful sights...

The day dawned misty but it cleared to become the most ideal warm hiking day...the Smuts track over the tops of Nursery Ravine, Skeleton Gorge and Fernwood Peak affords the most amazing views and passes through almost surreal jagged Sandstone rock formations...The Fynbos was as good and as colourful as you could see with everlasting Paper flowers in abundance....We gingerly bypassed a commotion of Cape Robins in a bush alongside the path as I spotted a Boomslang snake being harrassed by these birds deep in the Pincushion bush!!

The Cherry on the top of course was the Cable Car ride down as having hiked up to the top this was a first for all in this family!...
We were down by 1pm and my Atlanta Family were tired but totally gobsmacked by their experience over one of the worlds most beautiful two days of hiking that a person can do!!