Table Mountain = home

(L to R: Top of 12 Apostles during sunset, sunset views, City
views of Cape Town Stadium, & gorgeous blue skies)

It has been almost a week since I took a cable car up to Table Mountain and I must say that is my favorite thing (besides meeting/getting to know my other classmates) that I have done in Cape Town.  Table Mountain is the anchor of city and also serves as our backdrop as we stay in the City Bowl/Gardens suburbs.  The views from the top of the mountain were breathtaking – we could see Camps Bay, Robben Island, and even the Cape Town Stadium (site of the 2010 FIFA World Cup), along with Signal Hill and Lion’s Head (two other mountains worth hiking/seeing).

(L to R: Lion's Head, Flora on mountain, View
 as we leave the top, & Dassie begging for food.  

The cable car costs about 195 Rand (approximately $23 US) for both ways. For healthy hikers, you can always buy a one-way ticket, but since my classmates and I were running from class, we rode up and down the mountain.  It was worth the cab ride from campus to the lower cableway station on Tafelberg Road. A few of my classmates and I walked around on the top of the mountain and were able to see some wildlife (Dassies – which look like rodents, but according to my guidebook are the closest living relatives to elephants) and 1400 species of flora that Table Mountain is known for. Then we stayed until sunset and rode the last cable car down of the day to watch as the sky got dark and saw the city begin to glitter from below. It was an excellent way to get the pulse of the city that we have called home for the past week.

Info:

Address: Table Mountain (Nature Reserve), Cape Town, South Africa

Website: http://tablemountain.net/

Information line:+27 (0)21 424 8181