We woke up on our last day in Cape Town full of energy. We had one more stop to make before we head to the airport. But, first, the few from our room these last several days, with a little bit of cloud rolling in.
We were going up to the top of Table Mountain (because it is there) and we were a little worried about the views, but there’s a weather station up there and they reported clear skies with nice visibility all morning and, as you can see for yourself, the weather instruments are telling the truth.
You can walk or hike your way up the mountain, and it’s said to be something that’s challenging, but easy enough to do. You can also ride a cable car up to the top. And there’s a few things to consider here. I can walk anywhere. I can’t always take a ride up a gondola. And we couldn’t imagine a time where we thought “I sure do regret not walking up Table Mountain.” Also, this one has a rotating feature. You spin 360 degrees during the ascent and descent. Here are a few of the views, with more tidbits, trivia, notes and photos to follow.
The sign says Table Mountain is one of the new seven wonders of nature, an honor bestowed upon it by popular voting from 2007 through 2011. But new, of course, is a relative term. This formation is something like 500 million years old.
Here’s a small panoramic view from near that sign. Click to embiggen.
We are about 3,558 feet above sea level. And, up here, there are more than 2,000 plant species, most of them shrubs. (South Africa has its own floral kingdom, the Cape Floral Kingdom, one of just six for the entire planet.) More than 4 million people come up here a year, and the stubby plants, the fynbos, are an unexpected pleasure. Every single person up there today was loud, and talking about the most inane things possible.
Table Mountain is flanked by Devil’s Peak and Lion’s Head, all about three miles apart. The plateau we are on is about two miles, side to side.
The most common mammal on the mountain is the dassie, a rock hyrax. Just a few years ago, their population dropped off for still unknown reasons. Their lower numbers might explain the decline in the Verreaux’s eagle population in the region.
Table Mountain also has porcupines, mongooses, snakes, lizards, tortoises, and the Table Mountain ghost frog, and this is its only home. We were up there for a couple of hours, and for most of the time the clouds sat like this on the city below.
People have living here for at least 2,000 years, first by nomadists and then sheperds. The first European, a Portugese explorer named António de Saldanha sailed into the bay, climbed the mountain and named it Taboa do Cabo. They carved a cross into some of the rocks.
If you could see more of the sights below, you’d see Robben Island, which we visited this weekend. You might be able to see the cemetery at Signal Hill, if you knew where to look. People from all over the world have lived here, many not of their own accord, and people from all of the world have died here — perhaps not of their own accord.
All of the stone was transported here by rivers and mud moving down from the north. It all hardened over 100 million years, and the pressure and the heat gave us sandstone, and that’s why we can enjoy the rugged topography. But enjoy it while you can. In another 10 million years, give or take, this will all be worn down to sand.
The peninsula divides two bodies of water, different temperatures, different character and different species. The waters are also the resting place of more than 600 shipwrecks that have happened in the last four centuries. Shipwrecks and life in the water, flora and fauna on the land, it is a place of multitudes, as we’ve come to realize. And while we took the cable car up, there’s an old sign here that says there are some 300 walking and hiking routes up here.
It also has a lot of names. The indigenous Khoekhoe called it Hoerikwagoo, meaning mountain of the sea. The original Portugese name was Taboa do Cabo, Table of the cape. If you were here at night you might see the constellation Mons Mensa, which was given its name by an 18th century astronomer, who used the latin version of the mountain’s name. The peninsula and the mountain that rises from it has been a national park since 1998. That day it was called “a Gift to the Earth.”
It was a real treat to take it all in. This was my second of the new wonders of the world. (There are more of these lists than I realized.) Both of those visits, and indeed this whole trip, is because of my lovely photobombing bride.
But now we’re headed to the airport, and home.
