Robberg Nature Reserve

About Robberg Nature Reserve

Just outside Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route is a remote rocky peninsula touted as the most popular hiking destination in and around Plettenberg Bay.

Did you know? Hikers and visitors often sight loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtles in the waters, with occasional rare visits by leatherback turtles.

The Robberg Peninsula is not only a nature reserve but also a national monument and marine protected area in the heart of the Garden Route, just 8 km south of Plettenberg Bay. Roughly 4 kilometres in length, the peninsula sweeps out to sea, like a mini Cape peninsula.

People head here for the natural beauty, the rocky shoreline home to hundreds of Cape Fur Seals and the waters rich with dolphins and whales.

Montane fynbos sweeps up the wind-driven, rocky slopes awash in salt spray, whilst a collection of ocean seabirds – albatross, broadbilled prion and Subantarctic skua - fill the air with their calls as they head to and fro from the Sub-Antarctic island, Marion Island, south east of the peninsula. It is also a breeding area for the rare African black oystercatcher.

Kelp gulls breed on Robberg peninsula, particularly since the building of boardwalks that have allowed rehabilitation of disturbed area and kept people out of nesting areas.

And rare blue duiker, the country's smallest antelope, hide in the evergreen thickets, occasionally appearing to hikers when they feel safe. This diminutive blue-grey antelope weighs under 5 kg and has short, sharp horns in amongst its tuft of hair.

The Robberg Peninsula is far more than a wonderful space in nature. It is also an important Middle and Later Stone Age archaeological site. Nelson Bay Cave shows evidence of a time when grasslands, rather than sea, stretched beyond the southern horizon.

And Robberg's rocks date back 130 to 110 million years to the early Cretaceous period.

Hikers can choose from three circular routes, including the walk to The Point, which takes about four hours. Kayakers advocate that sightings from their boats are the best way to explore the rocky shoreline. And fishers fish from rock and surf (any other type of fishing is forbidden within one nautical mile of the peninsula).