Table Mountain

Table mountain looms over everything in Cape Town, from the tip of the cape of Good Hope to Robben island. All over town they have big frames that tourists can use to take pictures of the mountain from different angles. Today we set foot on the top. 

This one is down at the waterfront. 

There’s a cable car that goes up to the top, but we were inspired by the hike. There are 65 different routes to the top. Every one seems difficult - and is! We choose to start at the Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden. The gardens are amazing in their own right - we especially enjoyed the hanging walkway. 

Walkway through the canopy. 

Then we started our trip up. And up. And up. It’s 3,000 feet to the top. 

The first hour or two were wooden steps that went steadily up - and up. But we were hiking in a gorge next to a stream with waterfalls, trees and lush vegetation. There aren’t any pictures of the next part - and the most difficult. There were six steep wooden ladders. Then path went right through the stream. Not so bad during the dry season, but during the wet season we had to climb from boulder to boulder, trying to stay dry, not to slip, and hoping we were still on the path. We were. We made it just fine - if a little terrified. And deeply grateful that we were not planning to return that way. 

Finally, we reached a reservoir - kind of like an alpine lake. Beautiful. 

But the climb was far from done. We headed off and went up - and up - and up some more. Each time we thought we were as high as we could go, there was more. 

The views kept us going. As we approached the top, we could see ocean on three sides - all the way from False Bay down to Cape Good Hope to the Atlantic off downtown Cape Town. 

The top wasn’t what I expected. I though it would be pretty flat - hence the name. But there was a lot of relief up there! There was also a lot more vegetation than I expected - knee high, waist high and sometimes over 

my head. But finally, we reached the highest spot. 

From here, it actually was pretty flat, though it still took us another hour to reach the cable car station. The trail was very alpine, with water pooling on flat rocks, even though it has been days since the last rain. 

It was a shock to reach the cable car station, with crowds of people who just camel up for an hour or two. But the ride down was awesome. Then we hiked back to our apartment. We’re beat but really happy. Meg made us Indian curried chicken with green beans, chard from the farmer’s market and brown rice for dinner, so we wouldn’t have to leave the apartment. We had fruit chutney cheese puffs for snack - which are amazing. 

Next Up: Safari