Tranquility Cracks Hike

About Tranquility Cracks Hike

Start: the Pipe Track above Camps Bay, take Corridor Ravine to the top of the mountain
Finish: the Pipe Track
Duration: roughly 5 hours, depending on your level of fitness
Fitness: moderate to very fit
Our tip: the feeling of remoteness and the ancient rock formations are something for which one is unprepared

This popular hike with both locals and visitors to Cape Town, Tranquility Cracks refers directly to deep fissures in the rocks above Camps Bay through which one passes, about halfway along the Twelve Apostles. Beyond the cracks is a labyrinth of rocky corridors.

There are a number of passages to choose from, all of which offer incredible views. Inside the cracks grow yellowwood trees that have earned the hike the alternative title of Yellowwood Cracks. Here you are sheltered from any wind and sun.

Corridor Ravine is one of several paths that lead off the Pipe Track and is considered the easiest. It is the ravine after Slangolie (Slangolie is considered treacherous and not advisable to take), but has no marker of its own, so you need to keep your eyes peeled.

The track up Corridor Ravine, which actually is more of a valley between Corridor buttress and Verreaux Crag, is steep with loose stones and some slippery sections, so it can take you about an hour to reach the top. Numerous breaks will afford you views over the Atlantic and across to Lion's Head.

The top of the ravine is rocky but from the top you should see the backside of the Table with views of Muizenberg, Constantiaberg and the dams of the Orange Kloof forest. From the top you join a path that follows the spine of the Twelve Apostles, turning north towards Table Mountain. The path should take you straight to the cracks.

How long you spend here is dependent on how much you want to explore. It's a perfect place to stop and picnic and, if you are lucky, you will have the place to yourselves.

For the route back down, take the Kasteelpoort, one of the easiest descents off the mountain (although it can feel pretty tough going if one is tired) and join up again with the Pipe Track.