False Bay - Description and Location

Description and Location

The eastern and western shores of the bay are very rocky and even mountainous; in places large cliffs plunge into deep water. Notable peaks associated with the bay include Koeelberg (1269m / 4163 feet), which rises from the water itself forming the highest point of the Kogelberg, as well as Sommerset Sneeukop (1590m / 5217 feet) and Wemmershoek Peak (1788m / 5866 feet) which are clearly visible across the bay. The highest peak visible across False Bay is Du Toits Peak near Paarl (1995m / 6545 feet). The northern shore, however, is defined by a very long, curving, sandy beach. This sandy, northern perimeter of the bay is the southern edge of the area known as the Cape Flats. The bay is 30 kilometres wide at its widest point.

Some 20 kilometres across the Cape Flats there is a smaller, C-shaped bay — Table Bay — with Robben Island guarding its entrance. The central districts of Cape Town lie around Table Bay. Devil's Peak, Table Mountain, Lion's Head and Signal Hill form an amphitheatre along the western edge of the Cape Flats. Suburbs of Greater Cape Town now stretch right across the Cape Flats from Table Bay to the shores of False Bay and down the eastern flank of the Cape Peninsula for many kilometres.