Table Mountain

Table Mountain is such an imposing feature you could not visit Cape Town without including it in your itinerary. However choosing the right day can be difficult we waited for three days to get a clear summit. There are two ways up by cable car, my Mum choose this option. On a clear day the queues can be quite long, booking your tickets online is recommended. Or by foot.

My hotel arranged for me to join a guided group. I took the Patterklip gorge route via Maclear's Beacon. This route is the most direct and is not strenuous. The trip to the beacon gives an idea ecology of mountain, you can hear frogs singing and the vegetation is very diverse. The Table Mountain range creates rainfall and the rainwater percolates down to the freshwater springs in Cape Town. It was the availability of fresh water that made this area important strategically for ships rounding the cape.

It is one of the main tourist attractions of the city. It is a mountain that looks like a table, hence its name and has spectacular views of the coast and the city. It has an abrupt end the same as a big cliff. You need to take a cable car up there. Once there, there is a restaurant, gift shop and viewpoints. There are several well-marked trails to hike along the top.