Cape Point is the treacherous promontory of rocks, winds and swells braved by navigators since the Portuguese in the fifteenth century first "rounded the Cape." Plenty of wrecks lie submerged off its coast, and at Olifantsbos on the west side you can walk to two wrecks: one a US ship sunk in 1942, and the other a South African coaster which ran aground in 1965. The Old Lighthouse , built in 1860, was too often dangerously shrouded in cloud, and failed to keep ships off the rocks, so another was built lower down in 1914, not always successful in averting disasters, but still the most powerful light beaming onto the sea from South Africa.

From the Cape Point car park, the famous viewpoint is a steep walk, crawling with tourists, up to the old lighthouse. Alternatively, a funicular (R24 return) runs to the top, where there's a curio shop. The rather good Two Oceans restaurant at the car park has outdoor seating and huge picture windows taking in the drop to the sea below.

The sea and mountain scenery in the reserve are reason enough to travel the 66km from central Cape Town. Most visitors make a beeline for Cape Point, seeing the rest of the reserve through a vehicle window, but walking is the best way to appreciate indigenous Cape flora . At first glance the landscape appears rocky and bleak, with short, wind-cropped plants, but the vegetation is surprisingly rich - there are as many plant varieties in this small reserve as in the whole of Britain. Amazingly, many bright blooms in Britain and the US, such as geraniums, freesias, gladioli, daisies, lilies and irises, are hybrids grown from indigenous Cape plants.