Created: 2020jul16thu

Updated: 2021may29sat

Circular

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​Google Maps:

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​​Start/End     Tierkop

Pepsi Pools

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Maximum Altitude: 779m

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Total Distance: 16.1km

(Berg-en-Dal + Google Maps)

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Total Elevation-Gain: 778m

(Berg-en-Dal + Pepsi Pools)

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Specific Gradient: N/A

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Slope Length: N/A

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Qualitative Danger: 2/5

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The trail is mostly exposed, having little shade. Not recommended for a raw, unfit, green, first-time hike, but certainly one of the milder, more popular hikes in the region. This is more of a day-hike than a mere morning stroll.

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The route has two sub-circuits: a lower and an upper.

The lower circuit is close to the start, and splits into Tierkop 1 counterclockwise going up, longer and steeper, and Tierkop 2 clockwise going up, shorter and more gradual.

The upper circuit splits at the southeastern foot of Tierkop. A slightly shorter, more exposed, fairly flat footpath goes counterclockwise going up around the northeastern side of Tierkop has steep, high drops down into the Kaaimans Valley.

The slightly longer, broader, slightly steeper, two-track road goes clockwise going up around the southwestern side of Tierkop. Both ways meet up again at the Tierkop overnight hut.

From the hut, it takes about 15min to the top of Tierkop, for about 30min total to get back down to the hut again.

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I would also recommend actually completing the Pepsi Pool circle route, since the second half (which we didn't take) has a more gradual slope.

"Tierkop" is Afrikaans for "Tiger Head", or rather "Tiger Hill" in this context. The extremely shy and rare leopards of the region could, in the past, have been referred to as "tiers", an archaic Afrikaans plural in stead of the modern "tiere" i.e. "tigers". It might also have some relation with the German "tier" (Afrikaans "dier": English "animal"). Tierkop could have been a popular location for leopard sightings in the past when they might have been more common. However, all this is mere personal speculation. (In the Cape Town region, there is the similarly-named "Tygerberg", from the Dutch "Tijgerberg", i.e. "Tiger Mountain".)

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