Family Friendly Hikes in the Cape Peninsula… And a Book to Go With It…

This first weekend in May is a traditional family hiking weekend for us. We hike all the time, but the first weekend in May is one when the whole family will head up Table Mountain together. There are so many routes up the mountain that we try and make sure to explore a new one each time. In between these annual pilgrimages we like to hike at least once a week… at Cape Point, in Silvermine… really anywhere locally. This past weekend, due to lockdown, we we didn’t hike, but we did get to get out of our house for the first time in five or six weeks, who is counting really. Life in Lockdown, means stay home… stay home, stay home. So we had our first exercise day out, and we were overjoyed… even if it was just an hour or so, it was glorious… but the mountains are calling.

The point is, we will be back on the mountains, that’s for sure. In the meantime we can get ourselves prepared. I thought I would gather a collection of posts together of our previous hikes and while I am at it, probably add a few hikes to it!!!

There is an art to hiking with little people and still having a good time… everyone loves an adventure, but nobody loves an adventure with a short person who has to be bribed from snack to snack and dragged all the way whining, because they would rather be at home on a screen. There is something terrifically good and wholesome about the great outdoors and if you start small, while aiming high… you can indeed have a good time. These posts from the past will tell you a little bit about our “Hiking with Kids Journey…” How we began and how we got our kids good at it.

We made hiking part of our life in a daily way, we took them to the patch of mountain behind our house… and there was anguish when their was fire on their mountain. We walked and walked one year the same hike every week, rain or shine, and made a study of it through the seasons.

Hiking in and Around Table Mountain with Kids

Se7en’s Guide to Hiking Table Mountain with Kids.
Our first Family Hike up Platteklip… it wasn’t easy!!!
To the TOP, Maclear’s Beacon, via Kasteelspoort.
Up Skeleton Gorge and down Newland’s Ravine… a favourite from my own childhood.
Se7en’s Hike to Visit the Red Disa… a very flower focused hike!!!
Se7en Go Exploring in Newlands Forest and then a Walk along the Contour Path.
The Easiest Way to Get to Maclear’s Beacon with very small kids is Via the Cable Car.
Se7en Hoods Hike the People’s Trail with a Guide…
There is also a Hike up Lion’s Head.
And the most stunning Devil’s Peak.

Hiking in Cape Point

Most folk have the idea that Cape Point is a place to visit, for a walk up to the lighthouse or breakfast at the restaurant… what they don’t know is the perfect place for really easy and interesting family hikes and one of the few places that you can still have that magical South African dream event: The Beach Braai (Barbecue). There are all kinds of hikes in Cape Point, from rocky ambles to sandy beaches, crossing the the fynbos veld and wandering past wildlife… it is a magical place where you can go out into the wild and explore.

Really Easy Walks for Families:

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Slightly Harder Walks for More Adventurous Kids:

Silvermine

Silvermine is often overlooked as most tourists head for Cape Point… but Silvermine is one of Cape Town’s hidden gems… fantastic hiking, picnicking next to the dam… playing in the river, and where I do so much of my open water swimming. Silvermine has so much to offer and is a great place for a fabulous hike.

Quick ID Guide Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula

And in the spirit of tossing a guide book into your backpack to take along, well we have a new favourite one… Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula by Hugh Clarke and Corrine Merry. This is the perfect family friendly guide book to encourage curious wanderers from neighbourhood walks and onto the trails. This is certainly the best book of its kind for going on a “flower spotting adventure.” It is lightweight, full of colour photographs and packed with important clues as to where to find your floral treasures.

The great thing about this paperback size book is that even though it is all about flowers, there are loads of hiking tips and tons of walking and trail routes, many of the ones we have mentioned in this blog post, and more and what to expect on them.

The book comes with clear maps and describes the routes on them… each route description is colour coded to correspond with the map keys, the starting point and a little bit of information about the route is there to help the intrepid explorer.

Naturally, this book is all about the flowers… and the absolute best feature is that the book is colour coded. Blue flowers with blue, yellow flowers with yellow and so on. This is so easy for instant plant identification along the way.

Each flower is described in detail: the common name (English and Afrikaans), the scientific name, the general appearance, the leaves, the flowers, the distribution, the habitat and any special notes. There is a full-colour photograph for each flower, as well as the flowering season and the height of the relevant plant. There is also a glossary of terms and a useful illustrated guide as well. And an index of common as well as the Latin names.

For our regular weekly hikes, when someone says “What flower is that?” this book has proved time and time again, its worth in gold. Even as an arm chair traveller in the season of staying at home, we have been able to dip and discover new and interesting facts about plants that we have spotted on the trails.

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This book was published by Penguin Random House South Africa and Struik Nature. We would like to thank Penguin Random House South Africa and Struik Nature. This is not a sponsored post and opinions expressed are entirely our own.