Lion's Head...pictures pictures!

Date: 18/05.2011
Time: 23:37 (though I started uploading pictures AGES ago...internet is KILLING me tonight)
Days abroad: 114

So, as we all know by now, South Africans LOVE their public holidays. Technically, today was not a public holiday actually, but voting day...so we all got the day off :) I went to Long Street with a bunch of friends to work on growing my pile of gifts...people, you are all hard to buy for! I did a LOT of haggling...to the point of exhaustion....but, in the end, I think I got some pretty good deals. I'm hopeful that I can finish up all my gift buying in one more trip to town...but we shall see.

Anyways...today is not the point of my blog post...though we did have a fun mini-bus ride home. hahaha, always a delight.
The point is, in fact, the hike I did yesterday evening! :)

A boy in CIEE arranged a bus to take us to the base of Lion's Head:
for an evening hike. The view from the top is supposed to be really cool and it was the last full moon for us while we are here in Cape Town. So about 18 of us decided to climb and piled into the bus.

We started the hike on a nice wide, dirt trail that gently sloped up and around the base of the mountain. Pretty views of Camp's Bay and a light breeze on a sunny day, it seemed like an easy walk rather than a hike.This is Camp's Bay from the beginning of the Lion's Head trail...you cant see the ocean because it is covered by the clouds...

The hill gradually got steeper and rockier and by the time we had made almost a complete circle around Lion's Head it was more of a hike than a walk...

Signal hill is the grassy hill on the right...this is the view of part of Cape Town from the opposite side of the mountain from Camp's Bay...once again, the ocean is covered by clouds.

Because we got a bit of a late start (we were supposed to leave at 4 but we had to make a detour to pick up some stragglers at the 7-11 on Main Road in Mowbray so we didnt actually head towards the mountain until 5) the sun started to set as we were still hiking...
This is the lovely Serena...

Well, after we'd been walking/hiking for maybe 30 or 40 minutes, we got to the part of the trail where walking and hiking ceased and CLIMBING began...
(If you click on the picture it will get bigger and you can see people scattered up the side of that rock face...awesome)

We came across a sign:
sounds like fun...

Well, we had gotten to the part where you go pretty much straight up a rock face using chains and handles that somebody had been kind enough to bolt into the rocks.
This is the lovely Serena again...coming up the "use at your own risk" route with the shadow of Lion's Head over the city and the base of Devil's Peak in the background.

Well, we were a little late and the sun was setting quickly so we paused about 5 minutes from the top for a water break and a picture:
Once we got to the top, the views were incredible. We watched the sun finish setting and the moon rise and all the city lights come on. It was amazing.
This is Mercy looking at the city. Signal Hill is off to the left of this picture. The full moon came up over Devil's Peak on the right (I was messing with the settings on my [mother's] camera so it looks like daylight...it was actually quite dark). Jameson Hall (and the rest of UCT) is on the opposite side of Devil's Peak from here.
This is Ashleigh...Signal Hill is off the right side of this picture. The clouds are covering up the ocean.
(This picture looks a tiny bit like the world is ending...with the clouds coming in and everything...)
And the view Ashleigh was looking at as it got later and I changed some of my camera settings. Beautiful, no?
So, basically, an INCREDIBLE hike...and everyone should come to Cape Town and do it. ASAP. Because nobody is getting any younger, folks.

Wanna hear the best part?
We got to go back down the mountain IN THE DARK!
Scary. But fun fun fun!
Now I can check two things off my bucket list: 1. rock climbing in Africa and 2. rock climbing in Africa in the dark.
haha, just kidding, neither of those things is actually on my bucket list. They should've been though. Because they were a blast.

That's all for now everyone, I mostly wanted to get the pictures up...I hope you enjoy them :)

I miss everyone!
Love