Table Mountain - Guardian of the Mother City
“During the many years of incarceration on Robben Island, we often looked across Table Mountain at its magnificent silhouette. To us on Robben Island, Table Mountain was a beacon of hope. It represented the mainland to which we knew we would one day return.” This is how South Africa's living legend, Nelson Mandela views Table Mountain. Capetonians are passionately proud of their mountain, and are spiritually uplifted by it, whether they live, work or play in its shadow.
Cape Town (also known as the Mother City) is perfectly positioned following the Chinese philosophy of Feng Shui; creating a positive energy and perhaps explaining the laid-back attitude that Capetonians are notorious for. Table Mountain is an icon not only for the Western Cape, but also for Africa. Nowhere else can such a dramatic mountain be found so close to a cosmopolitan city, undeniably why it has made the 'New Seven Wonders of the World' voting list.
Not to be outdone by the mountain's Seven Wonders accolade, Cape Town holds its ground on the Forbes top-12 list of most beautiful cities in the world, ahead of London and New York. The city centre is an eclectic mix of architecture, where modern loft apartments tower over painstakingly restored Victorian, Edwardian and Cape Dutch buildings that house coffee shops spilling out onto pavements; gathering spots where businessmen, tourists or students feel equally at home. Market stalls line St George's Mall and Green Market Square, where bargain-hunters haggle with djembe drum playing Rastafarians. “I am here to make money in the World Cup, and experience the vibe” says a street vendor from Cameroon. “After that, who knows where I will go”.
Although laid-back, Capetonians are an active bunch, enjoying the outdoor activities and challenges that the mountain and city have to offer. “Just relax” says Ivo my tandem paragliding pilot. “Run when I tell you and don't sit down until I say so – then you will be fine!” Soaring above the city and seafront suspended from a brightly hued canopy, is an exhilarating experience. Ironically, one feels on the brink of death, yet so alive simultaneously. Weather permitting, tandem paragliders fly from Lion's Head and Signal Hill. The experience is surreal, as if transported into the body of an eagle, surveying the land below. As you rise and turn with the thermals, instead of being on the lookout for prey, view the new Cape Town Stadium, cruise ships in the harbour, Robben Island or perhaps a sailing regatta from the waterfront.
Abseil Africa operates the world's highest commercial abseil from just behind Table Mountain's upper cableway station, on the Camps Bay side. Their slogan 'Dope on a rope' makes one wonder if this implies the 'high' of being suspended more than 1000m above ground, as you rappel 112m into pure vertical space, or if one has to be a dope to attempt such a feat. “A blind person, a paraplegic and a 70-year old grandmother have all successfully completed this adrenalin adventure” assures Abseil Africa's office manager, Chris.
Columbian filmmaker, Federico Uribe Velesquez, became the Table Mountain cableway’s 20-millionth visitor when he bought his ticket on Thursday, March 25, 2010 “This place is so beautiful, its amazing!” he said, as cableway staff congratulated him on his surprise achievement. If you decide to skip the cable car and hike to the top, choose from over 100 varied routes. Don't be misled by the popular 3km Platteklip Gorge hike on the mountain's face. The distance may be short, but it is an energetic 1-3 hour hike. “I do this hike at least twice a week. Today I did it in 40 minutes!” says a lean local I meet along the way, proud of his accomplishment. As you climb, admire the fynbos vegetation. The Table Mountain national park has the single richest floral kingdom on the planet and is a world heritage site. Look out for dassies (rock hyrax), a small rabbit-sized creature who's closest living relative, bizarrely, is the elephant due to evolutionary similarities in their teeth and feet.
Table Mountain is engulfed in history, mystery and legends. In 1503 Admiral Antonio de Saldanha anchored his fleet in the bay, climbed the mountain via Platteklip Gorge and named it 'Taboa do Cabo' – table of the Cape. However, indigenous Khoikhoi people referred to it as 'Hoerikwaggo', meaning sea mountain. Many legends involve Table Mountain's cloudy table cloth, but perhaps the most well-known is that of a pipe-smoking contest between the devil and a Dutch pirate known as Van Hunks. To this day, when the south-easter blows, with a little imagination, the smoke from their duel can be seen in the form of the cloud bank covering the mountain.
The suburbs established on the slopes of Table Mountain are as diverse as its people. Spend a day exploring the peninsula, and it will seem as though you are travelling through different countries.
The area known as Bo Kaap (above the Cape) is a multi-cultural area at the foot of Signal Hill. It is a lively suburb with steep cobbled streets and brightly coloured houses. Its residents are mainly descendants of slaves brought to the Cape by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th centuries from Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia. Strolling through this area creates a sensory overload, with the chant of mosques and children's laughter in the street, exotic aromas coming through kitchen windows and the uninhibited colours of the dwellings. A short stroll from Bo Kaap is De Waterkant and the Cape Quarter, where historical buildings have been reformed, breathing new life as a sophisticated shopping and residential area where Cape Town's trendy crowd live, shop and play.
The Altantic Seaboard is a sharp contrast to these historical areas, starting at the V&A Waterfront, and stretching west to Hout Bay. Apartments and hotels line the seafront from Green Point, unofficially Cape Town's gay centre, through to Sea Point, the area known for its night-life. The opulent private villas of Camps Bay, Clifton and Llundudno vie for space along beaches that look as though they have been air-brushed. If you enjoy celebrity spotting, then order yourself a Mojito at one of the beach-bars along Camps Bay, the playground of models; you shouldn't have long to wait.
The beaches of False Bay on the back spine of the mountain are less trendy, but the warmer, calmer waters make them ideal for families. Kalk Bay is a character fishing village lined with restaurants and antique shops to explore, and has a vibrant day and night life. A weathered-face fisherman reminisces on how he has been fishing the bay for 60 years. In that time the fishing has diminished but costs of operating his vessel have soared, so enterprising locals have adapted their trade over the years, offering tours of the bay in traditional fishing trawlers. A local housewife animatedly negotiates the best price for a freshly caught Cape Salmon. As her dinner purchase is scaled and gutted, seagulls hover and a blubbery seal waits for the entrails to be tossed into the water He apparently loves Cape Salmon, but scoffs at snoek (A local fish, similar to barracuda). A little further along, is the naval village of Simon's Town, steeped in British heritage. At the aptly named Boulders Beach, locals and tourists sunbathe next to African penguins who sit preening each other, not at all perturbed by the fact that they are the star attraction of this picturesque cove.
“This cape is the most stately thing and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth.” From the journal of Sir Francis Drake, on seeing the Cape for the first time, 1580. Although the slopes of Table Mountain are now covered by a sprawling cosmopolitan city, the Cape is just as impressive as when the early explorers first gazed at it from the shore. Abundant herds of zebra and antelope are now replaced with a city of spirited people, eager to show the rest of the world what Cape Town has to offer.
As written for the Holland Herald, 2010 (KLM's inflight magazine)
Cape Town (also known as the Mother City) is perfectly positioned following the Chinese philosophy of Feng Shui; creating a positive energy and perhaps explaining the laid-back attitude that Capetonians are notorious for. Table Mountain is an icon not only for the Western Cape, but also for Africa. Nowhere else can such a dramatic mountain be found so close to a cosmopolitan city, undeniably why it has made the 'New Seven Wonders of the World' voting list.
Not to be outdone by the mountain's Seven Wonders accolade, Cape Town holds its ground on the Forbes top-12 list of most beautiful cities in the world, ahead of London and New York. The city centre is an eclectic mix of architecture, where modern loft apartments tower over painstakingly restored Victorian, Edwardian and Cape Dutch buildings that house coffee shops spilling out onto pavements; gathering spots where businessmen, tourists or students feel equally at home. Market stalls line St George's Mall and Green Market Square, where bargain-hunters haggle with djembe drum playing Rastafarians. “I am here to make money in the World Cup, and experience the vibe” says a street vendor from Cameroon. “After that, who knows where I will go”.
Although laid-back, Capetonians are an active bunch, enjoying the outdoor activities and challenges that the mountain and city have to offer. “Just relax” says Ivo my tandem paragliding pilot. “Run when I tell you and don't sit down until I say so – then you will be fine!” Soaring above the city and seafront suspended from a brightly hued canopy, is an exhilarating experience. Ironically, one feels on the brink of death, yet so alive simultaneously. Weather permitting, tandem paragliders fly from Lion's Head and Signal Hill. The experience is surreal, as if transported into the body of an eagle, surveying the land below. As you rise and turn with the thermals, instead of being on the lookout for prey, view the new Cape Town Stadium, cruise ships in the harbour, Robben Island or perhaps a sailing regatta from the waterfront.
Abseil Africa operates the world's highest commercial abseil from just behind Table Mountain's upper cableway station, on the Camps Bay side. Their slogan 'Dope on a rope' makes one wonder if this implies the 'high' of being suspended more than 1000m above ground, as you rappel 112m into pure vertical space, or if one has to be a dope to attempt such a feat. “A blind person, a paraplegic and a 70-year old grandmother have all successfully completed this adrenalin adventure” assures Abseil Africa's office manager, Chris.
Columbian filmmaker, Federico Uribe Velesquez, became the Table Mountain cableway’s 20-millionth visitor when he bought his ticket on Thursday, March 25, 2010 “This place is so beautiful, its amazing!” he said, as cableway staff congratulated him on his surprise achievement. If you decide to skip the cable car and hike to the top, choose from over 100 varied routes. Don't be misled by the popular 3km Platteklip Gorge hike on the mountain's face. The distance may be short, but it is an energetic 1-3 hour hike. “I do this hike at least twice a week. Today I did it in 40 minutes!” says a lean local I meet along the way, proud of his accomplishment. As you climb, admire the fynbos vegetation. The Table Mountain national park has the single richest floral kingdom on the planet and is a world heritage site. Look out for dassies (rock hyrax), a small rabbit-sized creature who's closest living relative, bizarrely, is the elephant due to evolutionary similarities in their teeth and feet.
Table Mountain is engulfed in history, mystery and legends. In 1503 Admiral Antonio de Saldanha anchored his fleet in the bay, climbed the mountain via Platteklip Gorge and named it 'Taboa do Cabo' – table of the Cape. However, indigenous Khoikhoi people referred to it as 'Hoerikwaggo', meaning sea mountain. Many legends involve Table Mountain's cloudy table cloth, but perhaps the most well-known is that of a pipe-smoking contest between the devil and a Dutch pirate known as Van Hunks. To this day, when the south-easter blows, with a little imagination, the smoke from their duel can be seen in the form of the cloud bank covering the mountain.
The suburbs established on the slopes of Table Mountain are as diverse as its people. Spend a day exploring the peninsula, and it will seem as though you are travelling through different countries.
The area known as Bo Kaap (above the Cape) is a multi-cultural area at the foot of Signal Hill. It is a lively suburb with steep cobbled streets and brightly coloured houses. Its residents are mainly descendants of slaves brought to the Cape by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th centuries from Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia. Strolling through this area creates a sensory overload, with the chant of mosques and children's laughter in the street, exotic aromas coming through kitchen windows and the uninhibited colours of the dwellings. A short stroll from Bo Kaap is De Waterkant and the Cape Quarter, where historical buildings have been reformed, breathing new life as a sophisticated shopping and residential area where Cape Town's trendy crowd live, shop and play.
The Altantic Seaboard is a sharp contrast to these historical areas, starting at the V&A Waterfront, and stretching west to Hout Bay. Apartments and hotels line the seafront from Green Point, unofficially Cape Town's gay centre, through to Sea Point, the area known for its night-life. The opulent private villas of Camps Bay, Clifton and Llundudno vie for space along beaches that look as though they have been air-brushed. If you enjoy celebrity spotting, then order yourself a Mojito at one of the beach-bars along Camps Bay, the playground of models; you shouldn't have long to wait.
The beaches of False Bay on the back spine of the mountain are less trendy, but the warmer, calmer waters make them ideal for families. Kalk Bay is a character fishing village lined with restaurants and antique shops to explore, and has a vibrant day and night life. A weathered-face fisherman reminisces on how he has been fishing the bay for 60 years. In that time the fishing has diminished but costs of operating his vessel have soared, so enterprising locals have adapted their trade over the years, offering tours of the bay in traditional fishing trawlers. A local housewife animatedly negotiates the best price for a freshly caught Cape Salmon. As her dinner purchase is scaled and gutted, seagulls hover and a blubbery seal waits for the entrails to be tossed into the water He apparently loves Cape Salmon, but scoffs at snoek (A local fish, similar to barracuda). A little further along, is the naval village of Simon's Town, steeped in British heritage. At the aptly named Boulders Beach, locals and tourists sunbathe next to African penguins who sit preening each other, not at all perturbed by the fact that they are the star attraction of this picturesque cove.
“This cape is the most stately thing and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth.” From the journal of Sir Francis Drake, on seeing the Cape for the first time, 1580. Although the slopes of Table Mountain are now covered by a sprawling cosmopolitan city, the Cape is just as impressive as when the early explorers first gazed at it from the shore. Abundant herds of zebra and antelope are now replaced with a city of spirited people, eager to show the rest of the world what Cape Town has to offer.
As written for the Holland Herald, 2010 (KLM's inflight magazine)