DEVIL’S PEAK

Description

Essentials about Devil’s Peak in brief

Like Lion’s Head and Signal Hill, Devil’s Peak is one of the peaks of the Table Mountain massif in the middle of Cape Town. It is located on the east side of Table Mountain and has a height of 1,002 meters. Besides the mentioned mountains, Devil’s Peak is one of the most beautiful viewpoints of the city and its surroundings.

The name “Devil’s Peak”

There are many legends surrounding the name of Devil’s Peak. According to the most famous legend, a pirate named van Hunks lived at the foot of the mountain at the beginning of the 18th century. Since his wife did not allow him to smoke his pipe at home, van Hunks had to retreat to the mountain every time to smoke. One day, on the slope of the mountain, he met a mysterious stranger who also smoked. The two bragged about how much they could smoke and began a contest. According to legend, the pirate won and the stranger had to reveal his name: It was the devil incarnate. Both of them are said to have dissolved in smoke afterwards, which drifted over Table Mountain. This is how the famous cloud cover over the mountain massif is said to have been created, which can still be seen frequently today as a weather phenomenon called the “Tablecloth of Table Mountain“.

Those who do not want to believe in this pirate devil story can also be satisfied with a more profane explanation for the origin of the name. At that time, Dutch was still the dominant language at the Cape and the words for devil (duivel) and dove (duif) are phonetically very similar in Dutch. So it is possible that the mountain was simply called “Pigeon Peak” in the past.

And for those who are not satisfied even with this explanation, there is a third possibility. 40 years before the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama was the first to circumnavigate the Cape in 1497, the Venetian cartographer Fra Mauro drew a map of the world based on Arabic sources. In it he called the southern tip of Africa “Cabo di Diab”, in English the “Cape of the Devil”. This designation may also have been transferred to the mountain.

Hiking on Devil’s Peak

Be that as it may, Devil’s Peak is one of the most beautiful viewpoints of Cape Town and the surrounding area from the Table Mountain massif. Several hiking trails lead to the summit, although hikers are advised to exercise caution due to the often rapidly changing weather conditions. Not that they also disappear in the smoke of the pirate and the devil.