Table Mountain guided hike - safe?

[spano]

Hi,

A group friends and I are traveling from Germany to Wellington for the Tour du Cap and CPCT next year.

Two of the guys' wives will be joining and are wondering about the safety of hiking up table mountain while we are on the bikes.

Having grown up in SA myself, I told them that doing it alone is an absolute no-go due to safety concerns.

I've come across some websites offering guided hikes up the mountain. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

 

[Meezo]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ejXYdoMgokSEEyFeA

@Big Mac

[madmarc]

17 hours ago, Meezo said:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ejXYdoMgokSEEyFeA

@Big Mac

My Daughter and her fiance did it last Dec, hiked up what seems to be called Platteklip Gorge on the above link - We took the cable car up and met them at the top and we all took the car down again. There seemed to be lots of people hiking the trails so i would assume its safe. My daughter is not a hiker by any means and did it fairly easily, she said if she did it again she would have bettrer hiking shoes, lots of sunscreen (it was a scorcher that day) and a hydration pack as they took bottles and hydration packs would have been more pratical.

[leorust]

17 hours ago, spano said:

Hi,

A group friends and I are traveling from Germany to Wellington for the Tour du Cap and CPCT next year.

Two of the guys' wives will be joining and are wondering about the safety of hiking up table mountain while we are on the bikes.

Having grown up in SA myself, I told them that doing it alone is an absolute no-go due to safety concerns.

I've come across some websites offering guided hikes up the mountain. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

 

Hiking on TM is mostly safe if you have good mountain sense and are prepared. Having said that it is always advisable to take a knowledgeable guide. This is so much more of an experience than just walking you to the top by the shortest possible route with lots of other people.

Active Africa uses the best guides for a great experience.

Otherwise Vertigo Adventures or  Hike Table Mountain are good service providers. 

I have worked for all three and can recommend the experience.

Shout if you need more info.

[spano]

Thanks for the replies. 
This is helpful. It is always difficult to judge  from another country if you read news and media about people being mugged/attacked while hiking there. 

[DJR]

I would get a guide and do it in a group if I were from overseas. Not just for the safety, but also for the extra information that a good guide will share. If you have a particular interest, try to find a guide that does that. There are people who do botanical hikes and will show you incredible plants and flowers you would not see otherwise. I even know a guide who specializes in snakes and reptiles.........if you WANT to see those on a hike. Others do history or adventure. There is something for everyone, even the people just interested in the view.

Edit: I hike alone, but always with my dog.

 

Edited December 17 by DJR

[Headshot]

The most dangerous thing about Table Mountain is that it is in close proximity to the City and has easy  access for hikers (and crims of course). The ease of access belies the danger it poses to inexperienced hikers. More people have died or been seriously injured falling or coming to some other grief than have ever been harmed in muggings. Security on TM has been stepped up considerably of late so the risk of a mugging has been reduced. That said, I agree with others who have advised to get a guide. Try Awol Tours. They do hiking and MTB guiding.

[Anthem24]

Binny Ridgeway is an experienced lady guide: https://www.ridgwayramblers.co.za/guides

But another option would be to join one of the regular hiking groups as a guest (Uber there and pay a small fee for the hike e..g. R50), when they could meet more locals. For example:

Westside Adventures https://www.facebook.com/p/Westside-Adventurers-Cape-Town-100090425354014/

Trails Club https://www.trailsclub.co.za/hike-with-us/#hiking-schedule

Peninsula Ramblers https://ramblers.org.za/

Meridian https://www.meridian-hiking.org.za/ 

The last three often older folk though. Moving around Cape Town can be difficult on the day of the CT Cycle Tour, depending where you're staying.

[Shebeen]

8 hours ago, spano said:

Thanks for the replies. 
This is helpful. It is always difficult to judge  from another country if you read news and media about people being mugged/attacked while hiking there. 

there are loads of people on the mountain everyday. platteklip and lionshead are thronging with people. So they will be 'safe'. But that depends on your definition of safe though, if they have been following kneejerk news, they will just not enjoy their hike.

An experienced guide will not kung-fu chicken wrap any muggers, they will hopefully have an idea on recent hotspots and not send their guests into any areas deemed more dangerous than normal.

[mrcg]

A stated above, Platteklip and Lion's Head will be very busy, especially on weekends. And there are some security about now and then, normally at the trail start. If you want to choose the less travelled routes, then the danger potential will increase significantly. Even with a dog and/or guide. This is more true after main season (November to February). My friend who lives in Vredehoek and has been walking his dog for years was mugged not 2 weeks ago. So, as always, nothing is 100% safe. Local knowledge helps a lot but is no guarantee.

[Mamil]

Tour du cap!!!! Can't wait. Going to be my 3rd one. I think I was 5th or 6th in unseeded open last year .... This year I'm aiming for a podium. Please note ... Anyone in a pure savage jersey please note.... Compulsory entry to age group racing bunch. No open unseeded savages please 

[spano]

thanks so much for all the tips! 

@Mamil we'll meet each other in the Tour du Cap then 😉

If you spot my South African accent amongst three German guys you'll it's us. 😄 

[Mamil]

15 hours ago, spano said:

thanks so much for all the tips! 

@Mamil we'll meet each other in the Tour du Cap then 😉

If you spot my South African accent amongst three German guys you'll it's us. 😄 

Hmmmm... international pros in open seeded. There goes my podium. 

Here's last year's race report in a shameless blog punt

https://mamil.co.za/race-report-tour-du-cap-2024/

[DJR]

Great report Mamil. I missed it first time around, so glad you punted it again.

[Eugene]

I did it 3 months ago and there are 100s of people doing it from all corners of the globe. 

At no point did we ever worry about our safety from a crime point of view. But there were lots of spots one could fall and injure yourself if not careful. 

When I was in the army in Cape Town in the 90s, one of our Staff Sergeants lost his son on Table Mountain. He slipped and fell somewhere and both he and the adult he was with died