Girls gone wild: A stroll on seal mountain

Claire Keeton and photographer Marianne Schwankhart take a day to explore South Africa's other peninsula

TAKE A HIKE

Take time to walk the longest (about 10km) of the three circular routes around Robberg and you will have a chance to appreciate its beauty and history.

We set out on the side of the headland that overlooks Robberg Beach and Plettenberg Bay, walking to the point that extends nearly 4km into the Indian Ocean, before returning about four hours later to the car park.

The path allows you to admire the view of the rocky shore, white beaches and pebbled rock formations without needing to watch your feet carefully, even though it winds up and down. The route has information boards about the marine life, geology and sites of historic significance.

Nearing the Gap, where the peninsula narrows to 160m, we could hear seals in a colony below, and watched them cavorting in the ocean. The Cape fur seal colony, after which Robberg is named (Afrikaans for "seal mountain"), was wiped out at the turn of the century and re-established in the mid 1990s.

Past the seals, the path winds down to shelves of rock next to pounding waves. The route is safe at low tide, but hikers must watch out for freak waves, which have swept people away. (The Robberg Point shack was also washed away by a freak wave.)

After being mesmerised by the surf, we walked past large rock pools up a steeper section. The path steers along a narrow ridge and the more exposed sections are protected by a wooden boardwalk and stairs.

From the hill, you descend to a sandy beach, where the Robberg Fountain Hut (which sleeps eight people) is located, with a spectacular view over the beach to the attached island, and the ocean. An hourglass-shaped sandbank with waves on both sides, called a tombolo, links the island, with its fossil dunes, to the peninsula. From the beach you climb the path back to the parking lot.

ASTONISHING DIVERSITY

Robberg is one of only two peninsulas in South Africa, according to Plettenberg Bay conservationist Galeo Saintz, the other being the Cape peninsula. Saintz, who lives off Robberg beach, was prompted to write about the peninsula after researching its geology and history.

• The reserve has 18 caves in which early man lived up to half-a-million years ago. Stone tools have been collected in the dunes. Strandlopers and Khoisan people inhabited the peninsula about 120000 years ago.
• Robberg was first sighted and mapped by Portuguese explorers in 1488 and is reportedly the first place in the Western Cape where European shipwreck survivors set up a community.
• The western cliffs and shore are believed to be the "the last remnants of old Gondwana, the super-continent that broke up to form Africa and South America", Saintz writes.
• Different types of rock formation are clearly visible: estuarine sandstone, beach conglomerate and breccia deposits on top of quartzite.
• Robberg has the highest lighthouse in SA, standing at an elevation of 145m

- Source: www.robbergbook.co.za

SHIPWRECKS

The shipwreck you can barely see shimmering under the surface on the Robberg Beach side of the peninsula is a Greek trawler, the Athina, which sank in 1967.

This wreck is often confused with the historic Sao Gonçalo, a Portuguese ship that sank off Robberg in 1630.

After struggling ashore, the survivors of the Sao Gonçalo were forced to set up camp on the beach, where they lived for more than eight months while building two boats.

 Pieces of porcelain and other remnants of their camp have been found in the corner of Robberg Beach, as well as a carved stone commemorating their wreck.

 The sailors set out in two directions from Robberg - east and west. Those who went east to Algoa Bay got a return voyage to Portugal.

The seamen who went west were picked up at the Cape of Storms. They returned to Portugal via India and, allegedly, their ship was wrecked on a sandbar when entering Lisbon.

In February this year Robberg was the site of a tragic plane crash. The pilots and seven passengers were killed when the Pilatus aircraft crashed into the sea close to the peninsula.

GETTING THERE: The Robberg Nature Reserve is about 8km south of Plettenberg Bay. From the N2 west of Plettenberg Bay, take the Piesang Valley turn-off. After about 3km, turn off to Robberg Road and about 4km further, turn off to the reserve.

OPENING HOURS: 7am-5pm, except December-January, 7am-8pm

CONTACT: Cape Nature 08612273628873; www.capenature.co.za