The Table Mountain Pipe Track

Summertime is a great oppor­tun­ity to exper­i­ence the Cape Town sur­rounds by get­ting out onto one of the many hik­ing trails on offer. If you like walk­ing but are not up for a big hike, the Pipe Track is a nice flat walk per­fect for after­noon and early even­ing excur­sions. The walk faces the Atlantic Ocean and gives a pan­or­amic view of the sur­round­ing moun­tains and the Atlantic Ocean, tak­ing you high above Cape Town city. The walk is easy and is suit­able for all ages as well as for your furry can­ine friends ...

The gravel track starts on Tafelberg road just off Kloof Nek. The track is named after the pipeline that runs next to the track and was built in 1887.  The pipeline con­ducts water from two of the dams on Table Mountain and to fil­tra­tion plant that you pass along the way.

Like many of the walks in and around Cape Town the pipe track offers a bit of a les­son for those inter­ested in the his­tory of the city. Early on in the walk you pass the Blockhouse aque­duct, named after the abode of a gar­rison of French sol­diers work­ing for the Dutch East India Company, which was built in about 1780 to pro­tect the route over Kloof Nek. Another set of attrac­tions are all the rav­ines and gul­lies that you pass, start­ing with a gully called Diepsloot that takes you through a for­es­ted area and to the Kloof Buttress which forms part of this side of Table Mountain.

Fountain Ravine is another gully that you’ll pass. As you pro­gress pass this gully you might be able to see a cave which was the hideout of a deserter from the HMS Sceptre which made its way into Table Bay in 1799. He had been forced into join­ing the Royal Navy in Jamaica and hid out in this cave for 14 months liv­ing on dassies and shrubs before escap­ing on a Scandinavian ship.

Blinkwater is another rav­ine you’ll pass. Blinkwater means ‘water that sparkles’ pre­sum­ably because of the beau­ti­ful view of the sea that you’ll get from here. Luckily once you get back to your car it’s only a short drive down to the pristine beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay, so keep that in mind as you brave the sum­mer sun to get to the end of this walk.

Slangolie Ravine marks the ends of this walk. This is a back-and-out route so you’ll have to retrace your steps along the route you came but with so much scenery to appre­ci­ate this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

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