Chapman's Peak is a mountain on the western side of the

Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula () of South Africa is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good ...

, between

Hout Bay Hout Bay (, meaning "Wood Bay") is a seaside suburb of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated in a valley on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, twenty kilometres south of the Central business district of ...

and Noordhoek in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The western flank of the mountain falls sharply for hundreds of metres into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, 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. Chapman's Peak Drive is part of the route of two of South Africa's biggest mass-participation races, the

Cape Argus Cycle Race The Cape Town Cycle Tour, formerly known as the Cape Argus Cycle Tour, is an annual cycle race hosted in Cape Town, South Africa, usually long. It is the first event outside Europe to be included in the Union Cycliste Internationale's Golden ...

and the

Two Oceans Marathon The Two Oceans Marathon is a ultramarathon and half-marathon held annually in Cape Town, South Africa with the ultramarathon held on a Saturday in April and the half marathon held the next day on the Sunday. It was previously held on Easter w ...

History

Chapman's Peak is named after John Chapman, the pilot of an English ship becalmed in today's

in 1607. The skipper sent his pilot ashore to find provisions, and the name was recorded as Chapman's Chaunce. 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 Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

. The road was closed in the 1990s, after a rockfall caused a death and a subsequent lawsuit, and subsequently reopened after being re-engineered to protect motorists from falling rocks. It was reopened in 2005 as a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

, 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".

Geology

The top of Chapman's Peak consists of flat, sedimentary rocks related to those that form

Table Mountain Table Mountain (; ) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, cableway or hik ...

. The base of the mountain, however, consists of Cape Granite and the two formations meet at a geological

unconformity An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...

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 Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos is a unique and endangered vegetation type that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula in Cape Town. This type of Mountain Fynbos occurs on very poor, acidic soils but is incredibly rich in biodiversity with an enormous numb ...

and Cape Granite Fynbos and they are both endemic to the city of Cape Town, occurring nowhere else. There is an old, abandoned

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

mine on the northwestern slopes of the peak. The remains of a

jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...

from which the ore used to be shipped are directly below the workings.

Gallery

File:Chapman's Peak Looking Towards Hout Bay (No.2).jpg,

, as viewed from Chapman's Peak Drive. File:Hout Bay from Chapman's Peak Drive (01).jpg, Sunset at Hout Bay viewed from Chapman's Peak Drive File:Hout Bay from Chapman's Peak Drive (02).jpg, Before sunset at Hout Bay viewed from Chapman's Peak Drive File:Chapman's Peak Drive sign (01).jpg, Chapman's Peak Drive sign File:Chapman's Peak Drive, Sudáfrica, 2018-07-23, DD 134.jpg, Rockfall shelters on Chapman's Peak Drive File:Chapman's Peak.JPG, Chapman's Peak, seen from Noordhoek File:Chapman's Peak Drive, Cape Peninsula, South Africa.webm, Video of Chapman's Peak Drive File:Chapman's Peak 2022 04.jpg, alt=, Chapman’s Peak Hiking Trail File:Chapman's Peak 2022 05.jpg, alt=, Hout Bay Harbour seen from The Hiking Trail File:Chapman's Peak 2022 09.jpg, alt=

References

External links

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Chapman's Peak Drive WebsiteProbe into Chappie's deal
{{Cape Town, natural Roads in Cape Town Geography of Cape Town Mountain passes of the Western Cape