Table Mountain
Table Mountain dominates Cape Town. Table Mountain is Cape Town. Without the mountain, it’s unlikely the city would ever have developed.
At 1,086 metres (3,563 ft) above sea level at its highest point, it’s not exactly small and its dramatic setting makes it seem huge. Apparently it can be seen from 125 miles out to sea.
Table Mountain is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula and its large plateau includes the peninsula’s highest point. Together with the range of hills stretching 50km down the peninsula to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, the whole peninsula has been, for hundreds of years, a pretty dramatic corner to turn for sailors heading east into the Indian Ocean, or from there back into the Atlantic and north to Europe.
For the adventurous, there are many trails you can use to climb the mountain. Looking down from the vantage point of the easy way up – the cable car – the trails look fairly precipitous and are clearly not something to be embarked upon lightly…
Dassies
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| Dassie |
The first time we went up, we took a chance on the weather – the so-called ‘table cloth’, a layer of cloud that often flows over the plateau, was coming and going and was very likely going to limit visibility. It did. As the cable car ascended, the panoramic view of the city was abruptly replaced with a panoramic view of the inside of a cloud. The cloud did lift sufficiently for a few minutes to give us some transient views, but on the whole, it was a busted flush. However, since it was an early ascent (we arrived around 8.30), we did get to see the dassies. These are a type of rat that, according to Wikipedia ‘are restricted to rocky outcrops in Namibia, parts of Angola and northwest South Africa.’ Well, no one has told the Table Mountain dassies that little snippet since they are thriving well in their corner of southwest South Africa. They are apparently famous for being able to squeeze into extremely narrow crevices, accomplished as a result of their flattened skulls and flexible ribs. The Table Mountain dassies just sat around and, being totally unfazed by the proximity of humans, were not inclined to squeeze anywhere.
Having returned home rather frustrated, we googled Table Mountain and webcams and found several sites that give constant updates of the weather conditions. Mmm.
No Clouds & No Crowds
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| View from Upper Cable Car Station |
Before our next ascent, we checked out the cloud situation from all directions and satisfied that it was more or less as in the photo above, we headed for the cable car again. A good tip on timing if you want to beat the crowds (and be warned, in the high season there can be very long and slow-moving queues exacerbated by the tour bus crowds being allowed to jump the queues) is to get to the lower cable car station first thing in the morning – it opens at 8.00, so arriving at 7.30 or even earlier is a good idea. Even better, go in the afternoon between 2 and 4; the morning crowds have gone and those wanting to be up there for sunset haven’t arrived. From the photographic point of view, this is also a good time for the views since the long shadows over the city haven’t yet grown to the size and contrast that will confuse your camera.
You can walk for hours around the plateau taking in the fabulous views of the coast and countryside surrounding the Cape. Close to the cable car station, there are paths that take you to the various viewpoints. Further way, the paths are less clear and the vantage points do not have any railings, so the sense of adventure increases as you walk gingerly (in my case at least) to the edge to peer over. Some of the drops are pretty dramatic.
Our trip to the mountain was in high summer when the heat and intense sunlight reduced any desire to trek around for hours. In the spring and autumn the walking opportunities would be endless and the views always stunning. You certainly can’t say that you’ve really seen Cape Town unless you’ve seen it from the mountain.
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