Gifkommetjie to Platboom Hike

About Gifkommetjie to Platboom Hike

Start: Gifkommetjie beach, Cape Point Nature Reserve
Finish: Platboom beach, Cape Point Nature Reserve
Duration: 5 km, roughly 2 hours, unless you do it return
Fitness: moderate
Our tip: fine to do with older children in one direction; you will need a car at the other side

The beautiful beaches of Gifkommetjie (poisonous little bay) and Platboom (flat tree) are 3 km apart, within Cape Point Nature Reserve.

The bonus of any walk within the reserve, despite the wind which often whips up in summer, are the coastal views (impressive) and the wildness of the beaches (there are seldom people on these long white expanses).

You can do the walk between the two beaches from either end, return, or get someone to pick you up on the other side.

Highlights of the walk include: incredible coastal dune vegetation, marshlands and pans, rocky beach complete with kelp beds, and rock pools for hours of exploration.

Platboom Bay's look-out point is on the turn off to the right, as you drive past the Buffelsfontein Visitors' Centre inside the reserve. The coastline you will explore is on the Atlantic side of the peninsula, with views out over Bloubergstrand and the Cape Point lighthouse.

Alternatively Gifkommetjie lies a few kilometres south of Olifantsbos Bay. You head along the rocky shoreline to Platboom in a southerly direction. If you don't want to do the there-and-back or just there route, then you can opt instead for a circular route from Gifkommetjie northwards to Hoek van Bobbejaan (look out for the Phyllisa shipwreck), back via Kommetjieberg.

Just off Platboom beach is the well known Island reef that serves as a landmark. The dunes at Platboom are notably beautiful, particularly as they are so different from the rocky shores of Gifkommetjie.

You can extend the hike and head all the way down to the southernmost point of the peninsula, for more of a challenge.