Saturday 23 July 2016

Table Mountain


We were undecided as to whether to hike up Table Mountain or take the cable car but the decision was made for us as the cable car was not running due to high winds. It  was a perfect day for climbing to the top with clear blue skies but a chilly wind. We scrambled up a steep path through the interesting fynbos heath, a flora unique to the south African cape.



We contoured around under the upper cliffs of Table Mountain on a narrow path.

Then we climbed steeply up the Platteklip Gorge on a zig zag path that kept going up and up.

Finally after 2 hours of hiking, we popped out on the flat rocky top of the mountain. The views of Cape Town far below we're absolutely stunning and definitely worth the hike up. It was only 5C on top but warm enough in the winter sun if we bundled up a bit.




Our timing was impeccable as we were able to catch the only cable car of the day down. They had done a test cable car run up but it was still too windy to operate the cable car. However, the cable car operator invited us to join him on the journey back down so on we hopped for the 5 minute ride down. Our knees were very thankful to not have to do the steep descent and it gave us more time to explore this great city.



1 comment:

Julia Panchen said...

Great photos, brought back memories of our trip up Table Mountain in 2004. Cable car was running so we took easier option - excuse being that it gave us longer to enjoy the views! Did you see the Rock Hyrax up there?