Table Mountain

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Wednesday, January 6, 2016

It was an early start this morning to get to the cable car and up the mountain to beat the crowds. It worked brilliantly. We were in the gondola just before nine and on top of Table Mountain a little after the hour. Yes, us, but boy was it worth it.
Cape Town's iconic landmark was created some 540 million years ago when during an uplifting period these rocks were squeezed upwards between two tectonic plates in the earth's crust. It's north face overlooks the city centre and is flanked by the formations of Lion's Head and Signal Hill to the west and Devil's Peak to the East. A series of gable like mountains known as the Twelve Apostles march away to the south. You can walk (if you can call it that!) to the top in about 2hrs and as we rose ever steadily upwards in our gondola we saw several fit, hardy souls on the trail. The whole area is a National Park and is covered in fynbos clinging to every ledge, nook and cranny. Plants are incredible how they can survive in the most inauspicious circumstances ie tremendous temperature range, high winds and thin, acid, almost non existent soils. Incidentally, fynbos consists of a vast number of low scrubby plants of the Erica or heather family, Restionacaea grasses, and Protea or leucadendron families, bulbs, daisies and pelargoniums. The gondola rotates through 360 degrees on its journey, giving one a fantastic view over the city and the approaching mountain, which is surprisingly heavily jointed and cracked vertically and horizontally when viewed close up. I saw my first wild flowering King Protea on the way up. The Western Cape, a small flora area, has over 2,500 species of plants in comparison to the UKs 1500 or so.
Once on the top the views are as spectacular as you might expect in all directions. The surface is rocky and uneven; the result of wind and water erosion, it is however, a microcosm of plants and animals and simply fascinating to study. To our delight we had hardly taken 20 steps from the cable car when a hyrax darted across our path. They look like outsize fluffy guinea pigs and are known locally as dassies, however, their closest relative is the elephant. They are shy creatures and so we were very lucky to see one. We took a short guided walk, which was very informative and then walked the perimeter of the 'Table Top' which is large. A large flock of tiny sunbirds flitted in and amongst the vegetation feeding on nectar from the flowers. They are clearly used to the public watching and photographing them going about their business, as they were completely unfazed by our presence. The temperature has dropped slightly today to more manageable numbers, which helped us, because there is no natural shade.
We were down at the bottom by midday and took the red tourist bus around Camps Bay and the western beaches before heading back into the city, stopping off at the Waterfront for some lunch at the Food Market. This is an old warehouse filled with a myriad of great local food outlets. We made our selection and sat down by a TV to catch up on the cricket. The change in the weather had brought a little luck for South Africa and England had lost five wickets at this point, so game on, but probably still a draw in the offing. We got chatting to a charming local young couple who live in the Garden District where we are staying. We whiled away an interesting half hour putting the world to rights, before parting and heading back to the bus stop to pick up our blue bus back to More Quarters.
On the way through a really lovely artisan craft warehouse. I spotted an unusual stall that make items from used tea bags, yes you heard me correctly first time! A driftwood Christmas tree was beautifully decorated with charming tea bag decorations. You might know the tree would catch my eye. Underneath was a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt which you will see in the photo section. How true- it made me smile!Read more