Hike at the Agulhas Rest Camp

The lagoon at the start of the Agulhas hike.

By Tom · Published Feb. 23rd, 2021 · Updated Nov. 23rd, 2022

This stunning hike at Cape Agulhas takes you through sand dunes and fynbos to a nice viewpoint where you can see the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet. Near the end, there is a nice little lagoon to cool off. An ideal walk if you stay at the SANParks rest camp.

Stunning view over fynbos to the Atlantic ocean at Agulhas restcamp.

Location

This hike is in Agulhas National Park and is unfortunately not available for day visitors. It starts at the Agulhas rest camp, which is 10 km from the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse. From Cape Town it is 223 km and takes 2.5 to 3 hours to get here via the N2, R316 and R319. We can recommend spending the night at this rest camp as it has a stunning location and the chalets are really nice. Read more about the rest camp in our Agulhas National Park post.

Agulhas Rest Camp Hiking Map

Get the route by downloading the .gpx or .kml file below. For navigation with Maps.me on your mobile phone, simply download the .kml file and open to add it to the Maps.me bookmarks.

We did this hike in May 2019, and started the hike at our chalet, but it is possible to start it at the parking lot a bit further towards the coast. First, we started off with a swim at the lagoon as we needed to be refreshed after the lighthouse hike, but you can also leave the swim till the end.

Tips

  • Take a sunhat and put on sunscreen, as the sun is bright despite the sea breeze.
  • Ask at the SAN Parks reception for a map with descriptions, we did a variation on the Two Oceans Hiking Trail.
  • There are shortcuts, making it a 3 km or 4.5 km hike.
  • Keep an eye out for route markers as they are sometimes not clear. An app like MapsMe will help.
  • We actually did half of this hike one afternoon, and ran the rest the next morning, which worked out very well.
  • Bring swimwear for a refreshing swim in the lagoon at the end.
  • For another nearby hike, check out the Agulhas Lighthouse Hike.

Blue Lagoon

After a refreshing swim in the lagoon, we walked towards the right along the coastal path. A bit later, this joins a track that you follow for half a kilometre, at which point you turn off on a trail towards the right. There are steel and wooden markers, sometimes with numbers, showing you the route. The path is sandy in many places, as you walk through some beautiful fynbos.

Nice lagoon at the start and finish of the hike.
Nice blue lagoon, only a tad cold.

Along the way, you will see many different birds. For example, we saw some Cape Bulbul, Mousebirds, Scrub Robins and a Common Fiscal that kept on following us. The black and white Fiscal was super friendly and she followed us for almost a kilometre before leaving.

Cape Bulbul (bird).
Cape Bulbul.
Common Fiscal (bird) following us during our Agulhas hike.
Common Fiscal following us around.

Shell Middens Along the Agulhas hike

This area has been inhabited by humans since humans existed. The evidence for this is shell middens – where people thousands of years ago ate shellfish and discarded the shells into a rubbish heap. So middens are basically rubbish dumps. But not full of plastic like today, just full of organic material.

An ancient shell midden at Agulhas National Park, South Africa.
An ancient shell midden.

Shell middens aren’t actually super impressive to look at and are easy to miss, but once you know what they are, it’s cool to think of our ancestors hanging out just where you are now, eating shellfish.

There was interesting vegetation along the Agulhas hike, lovely flowers, and beautiful shells on the beach. You wind through the vegetation, up and down sand dunes and limestone cliffs. The perfect walk to unwind.

Yellow flowers.
Colourful shell on our Agulhas walk.

Distant Sand Dunes

As we head inland and up, we saw sand dunes in the distance. From the furthest point inland, at the top of the hill, you can see the flat plains to the north. There are some salt pans there, good for bird spotting apparently, but we didn’t go there since it was a bit out of the way. There is also the view of the Atlantic and Indian ocean meeting, the namesake of this Two Oceans Trail.

Sand dunes in distant during the Agulhas hike.
Distant sand dune.
A close up of the sand dunes.
Sand dunes a little closer.
Distant plains with a pan.
The distant plains with a pan.

The trail takes you gradually down again, going along the road to the rest camp for a little bit before turning off to the left into the sand dunes. Shortly, we arrived at the lagoon and the spectacular views of the ocean. A fitting end to this pretty Agulhas hike.

If you enjoyed this walk, check out the Agulhas Lighthouse Hike, read about Agulhas National Park, explore nearby de Hoop Nature Reserve, or discover other hikes in South Africa.

The stunning coast line as seen from the hike at Agulhas rest camp.

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