Full Circle Digital Magazine February 2014 | Page 5

HIKING • SIGNAL HILL

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retty much overlooked as a serious hiking area,
Signal Hill nevertheless offers some fascinating
historical sites and some great views of the City
Bowl and Sea Point. It also offers one of the best views
of Table Mountain stretched between Devil’s Peak and
Lion’s Head.
Don’t be fooled, either, by the ‘flat’ nature of the
Lion’s ‘back’ and ‘rump’, there are paths that will get
your heart pumping should you wish to.
A good place to start is about 1.4km from the Signal
Hill turn-off at Kloof Nek. There’s parking on the side of
the road and, if you cross the road and walk up it, the
path then runs back parallel to the road towards Lion’s
Head before turning right across the ‘shoulder’ of the
lion, to an old canon emplacement, one of many old
military structures on Signal Hill.
Continuing past the canon, you will find the main
path from Signal Hill to Lion’s Head. Walk straight
down the ‘spine’ of the lion from the canon and you
will find an open area planted with trees which was an
old car park.
At this point, you can go left down the ‘flank’ of
the lion, but keep moving straight (because you’ll be
coming up this path later). Walking straight will take

you directly to the kramat (tomb of a saint) of Sheikh
Mohamed Hassan Ghaibe Shah Al-Qadiri. You are
allowed to enter the kramat, but non-Muslims need
to be reminded to respect the traditions and beliefs of
Islam, and remove their shoes before going inside.
The caretaker, will happily explain the relevance and
significance of the kramat, as well as the rich tradition
of Islam in the Cape. It really is a fascinating, though
often tragic, story, intertwined inextricably with the
African and European history of our beautiful city.

Above: One of the several other
Kramats on Signal Hill.
Below: The well known Kramat
below Lion’s Head.
Right: The interior of the Kramat.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

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February 2014

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