Chapman's Peak

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Chapman's Peak Drive
Chapmans Peak Drive 2.jpg
Chapman's Peak Drive facing southwards.
Length9.5 km
Traversed by M6
Location Cape Peninsula, Western Cape, South Africa
Range Table Mountain
Coordinates 34°5′14″S18°21′38″E / 34.08722°S 18.36056°E / -34.08722; 18.36056
Chapman's Peak
Location of Chapman's Peak Drive in the Western Cape Province.
South Africa Western Cape relief location map.svg
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Chapman's Peak (Western Cape)

Chapman's Peak is a mountain on the western side of the Cape Peninsula, between Hout Bay and Noordhoek in Cape Town, South Africa. The western flank of the mountain falls sharply for hundreds of metres into the Atlantic Ocean, and a road, known as Chapman's Peak Drive, hugs the near-vertical face of the mountain, linking Hout Bay to Noordhoek. Tourists and locals often stop at viewpoints along this road, which offer views of Hout Bay, The Sentinel peak and surrounds, as well as over Noordhoek Beach.

Contents

Chapman's Peak Drive is part of the route of two of South Africa's biggest mass-participation races, the Cape Argus Cycle Race and the Two Oceans Marathon.

History

The official opening of Chapman's Peak Drive, Cape Town, on the 6 May 1922 by Prince Arthur of Conaught. Official opening of Chapman's Peak.jpg
The official opening of Chapman's Peak Drive, Cape Town, on the 6 May 1922 by Prince Arthur of Conaught.

Chapman's Peak is named after John Chapman, the pilot of an English ship becalmed in today's Hout Bay in 1607. The skipper sent his pilot ashore to find provisions, and the name was recorded as Chapman's Chaunce. [2]

Chapman's Peak Dr Chapman's Peak 2022 13.jpg
Chapman’s Peak Dr

Chapman's Peak Drive was hacked out of the face of the mountain between 1915 and 1922, and at the time was regarded as a major feat of engineering. The road was closed in the 1990s, after a rockfall caused a death and a subsequent lawsuit, [3] and subsequently reopened after being re-engineered to protect motorists from falling rocks. It was reopened in 2005 as a toll road, part of the M6. The road was again closed for a number of months beginning on 19 June 2008 "as a result of risk areas identified on the mountain above the road". [4]

Geology

Chapman's Peak Drive. The pass is built on top of a layer of granite, cut into the softer sedimentary rocks above. Chapman's Peak Drive, Sudafrica, 2018-07-23, DD 135.jpg
Chapman's Peak Drive. The pass is built on top of a layer of granite, cut into the softer sedimentary rocks above.

The top of Chapman's Peak consists of flat, sedimentary rocks related to those that form Table Mountain. The base of the mountain, however, consists of Cape Granite and the two formations meet at a geological unconformity that is world-famous amongst earth scientists.
Two different endangered vegetation types can be found along this road, and correspond to the two main geological formations. They are Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos and Cape Granite Fynbos and they are both endemic to the city of Cape Town, occurring nowhere else. [5] [6]

There is an old, abandoned manganese mine on the northwestern slopes of the peak. The remains of a jetty from which the ore used to be shipped are directly below the workings.

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Kommetjie is a small town near Cape Town, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It lies about halfway down the west coast of the Cape Peninsula, at the southern end of the long wide beach that runs northwards towards Chapman's Peak and Noordhoek. The community of Ocean View is located to its immediate south east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Peninsula</span> Rocky peninsula in the Western Cape, South Africa

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noordhoek, Cape Town</span> Place in Western Cape, South Africa

Noordhoek is a seaside town in the Western Cape, South Africa, located below Chapman's Peak on the west coast of the Cape Peninsula and is approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) to the south of Cape Town. The name "Noordhoek" was taken from Dutch and literally means "north corner". It was given this name in 1743 as being the northern corner of the Slangkop farm. The first permanent resident of European origin is Jaco Malan who built his house there. In 1857, the region was divided into six plots, most of which were bought by a single family, that of the de Villiers. Noordhoek nevertheless remains a predominantly rural area where farmers grow vegetables to supply ships calling at Simon's Town. It is best known for its shoreline and its long, wide, sandy beach, which stretches south to the neighbouring village of Kommetjie. Near the southern end of this beach is the wreck of the steamship "Kakapo", which ran aground in 1900, when the captain mistook Chapman's Peak for the Cape of Good Hope and put the helm over to port.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos</span> Vegetation type endemic to the Cape Peninsula in Cape Town, South Africa

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References

  1. Drive, Chapman's Peak. "History". Chapmans Peak Drive. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  2. "History of Chapman's Peak Drive". chapmanspeakdrive.co.za. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  3. "The BTA Chapman's Peak Fund" . Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  4. Chapman's Peak Drive
  5. "Cape Granite Fynbos. Cape Town Biodiversity Factsheets" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  6. "Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos. Cape Town Biodiversity Factsheets" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.