CPT: Table Mountain

CPT being a reference to Cape Town, where — after a fabulous special event yesterday — we have two more days for sightseeing.

There is a lot to see and do in and around the city. Perhaps a tour would have been appropriate to get us to places like Boulder Beach and the Cape of Good Hope. But we decided to freestyle our exploration and focus on the city itself.

There was one common advice that we got from those who had been to Cape Town before. “If the ‘tablecloth is off,’ drop everything and head up to Table Mountain,” they said. The tablecloth, of course, is the cloud cover that hides the scenery from view once you are at the top.

Thus, when we woke up to a crystal clear blue sky — with nary a cloud visible anywhere — there was no question what we’d be doing. The downside of our morning at Table Mountain was the harsh glare of the sun that washed out the scenery. The upside was that by midday the ‘tablecloth’ was starting to cover the mountain. In the end, it was best that we went up when we did.

We knew that the cable car that whisks visitors nearly 3,600 feet to the top was bound to be crowded. No dallying on the ship, therefore. A quick breakfast … and we were off. We asked a guard at the terminal where Uber picks-up and walked the short distance to that gate. Shortly after 7:30a, we were on our way to the bottom station.

There were two queues waiting for the cableway to start operating. One was a long line of people with tickets already in hand. The other was a long line of people who needed to purchase tickets. We joined the second queue. The line moved quickly. I think we were on the second or third cable car to go up.

The circular cable cars, which can carry 65 people, have two glass-free areas at either end. To give everyone equal opportunity at viewing the scenery without a barrier, the floor rotates. It was a weird feeling when the floor first started moving, but we quickly adapted. An ingenious system really. Unfortunately, there is no way to get decent photos without the cables being part of the scenery. So, I limited my shutter clicks and just enjoyed the ride.

Table Mountain is within the Cape Floral Kingdom, which was inscribed as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site in 2004. The mountain wasn’t always known by its current name. The indigenous people of the Cape called it Hoerikwaggo … mountain of the sea. In 1503, a Castilian-Portuguese admiral by the name of Antonio de Saldanha christened the mountain Taboa do Cabo … Table of the Cape. He was, by the way, the first European to ascend the mountain … at least, the first recorded one.

I had read that hiking was the thing to do. So, once we got to the Top Station, we studied the trail map. We didn’t have enough time to do the longest trail, but we cobbled together a nice walk by following two of the trails. Along the way, we had our first encounter with dassies, considered a keystone species. Their name — Dutch in origin — means badger. There was one female with three juveniles that were especially fun to watch.

The day was beautiful … though much hotter than yesterday … and a bit humid. No shade to speak of. But a nice breeze dissipated the heat … if only a little. Even washed out as the scenery was, we enjoyed seeing the city and its environs from high up.

We could have dallied at Table Mountain all day, but we had other places to go … things to see.Read more