To get to the viewpoint take the turnoff on the N2 at S34 02.238 E23 13.561 and continue until S34 03.059 E23 13.965 where you are required to complete a self-issuing permit. It seems that at times this gate is manned and there is a small entry fee to pay - a valid Wild Card is accepted. Continue along the road following the signs to the Kranshoek viewpoint.
An Earth cache is a special type of Virtual Cache that is meant to be educational. Therefore to log a find you must demonstrate that you have learnt something from the site and experience.
Send your answers to us in an email via our profile page.
Any logs not accompanied by an email will be deleted.
Logging Tasks:
1) Estimate the height above sea level of both peaks at Grootkop.
2) What is Gondwana?
3) From the notice board near the listed coordinates what are the three things you are permitted to do.
4) As an optional request please take a photo of you and your GPS with the two peaks in the background and post it with your log.
Our introduction to this area was when we did the Harkerville Coast Hiking Trail, a two-day 27km hike of +/- 7 hours each day. We enjoyed it so much that we went back to do it for a second time.
The coastline along this region is spectacular and is well worth a visit. You will be standing on the edge of the coastal plateau, looking dizzily down onto the jagged cliff line of the Tsitsikamma coast, wooded ravines and the raw, gaping teeth of upended Table Mountain sandstone. These are pretty old rocks, laid down as shallow marine sands in the Agulhas Sea some 450-million years ago when the Cape was part of Gondwana.
Here are a few more pictures of the area. The first one is taken looking back towards Kranshoek and the other one is a natural tunnel near Grootkop on the 2-day hiking trail.
The geological composition of the Outeniqua region is dominated by the Table Mountain Sandstone Series. The mountains and the greater part of the upper plateau are made up of quartzitic sandstone with congomerate and shale strata, while the major part of the lower plateau consists of Cape sediments (Bokkeveld and Table Mountain) and granite bosses. Other formations found in this region are Kango and Enon Beds (Sandstones, shales and conglomerates), tertiary and recent deposits and Knysna Beds.
The peak as seen in the west is known as Grootkop.
Acknowledgement and recognition:
Getaway – Tsitsikamma’s Harkerville Trail by David Bristow
Dept of Forestry – Outeniqua including the Harkerville Coast Hiking Trail Map 4th edition