A view from Table Mountain at sunset
True Story: After only my first time meeting someone, we brought up that we both had vacation plans for the next month.
He was going alone, and my friend had just canceled on the vacation we were planning. It turned out we were both going to Cape Town! Not only that, but we were going only one day apart! So, I adjusted my plans by a day, and all of a sudden I was going with someone I had just met.
Luckily, we ended up not hating each other and really got along. That meant we were able to make it to our last stop without killing each other, which was Table Mountain. My thoughts on it are below.
Get tickets for the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway
A stunning sunset
Table Mountain soars above Cape Town at 3,500 feet, so it was easy to feel excited while waiting to go up it during our visit, as it towers over the city. It’s like waiting for dessert at dinner… and I’ve been known to just skip dinner and go straight to dessert.
The mountain is part of Table Mountain National Park and is often shrouded in a characteristic ‘tablecloth’ of clouds. Mmmmm. Now I’m thinking about dessert again. Perhaps a wonderful blueberry pie on a red checkered tablecloth. (I probably should have eaten before sitting down to write this.) But I digress.
Visitors can access the summit via a series of hiking trails or by taking the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, which offers panoramic views during the ascent. We, liking dessert too much, chose the cable car rather than the hike. Also, we had just hiked nearby Signal Hill, so our get-up-and-go had got up and went.
Joke Break: How do mountains hear so well?
It’s all thanks to mountaineers.
The cable car was a fun and scenic way to get up and took about five minutes. When we got to the top, I was surprised at the amount of wildlife scurrying around. The cutest and most prevalent among them were the dassies. These adorable creatures look like rabbits with no tails, pinched faces, and a permanent smile. They’re also a bit chubby… they also enjoy their dessert, I can see.
After getting to know some dassies we really got to look around, and wow, Table Mountain can’t be beat. The views of the ocean and Cape Town were incredible. The way the “tabletop” clouds flowed off the cliffs were magical. The way the dassies eagerly led us to each spot and gave us a history of that corner (just kidding, I think you have to pay extra for that). We timed our trip to the top to coincide with sunset, and it was a shutterbug’s dream. It had this shutterbug doing the jitterbug… poorly. After the sun went down, the glow of Cape Town was also quite cacaptivating.
The sun had set on a trip that included penguins at Boulder Beach, witnessing waves crashing into each other at Cape Point, enjoying some of the best food I’ve had (shout out to you, dessert), and making a new lifelong friend who didn’t turn out to be a serial killer. (We worked for the same company, so that made it less likely to begin with.)
Now it’s your turn to experience Cape Town…but maybe with someone you already know!
Get tickets for the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway
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