Charles Apple

A Sunday visit to Cape Town’s Table Mountain

I said something Sunday morning about how terrific Saturday had been.

Well, the incredibly good luck I’ve been having here in South Africa held up once again. Two of the ladies in my class — Hanlie, left, and Salomé, right — took me on a tour of some of Cape Town’s oldest and most outstanding attractions:

Here, we’re having breakfast at an old sidewalk café located in the Company Garden section of Cape Town.

I laughed at the sign until the morning wore on and we were indeed approached by squirrels and birds begging for food:

The animals were very cute. But a bit of a nuisance at times.

I’m not much of a garden guy, but Cape Town’s Company Garden is gorgeous. It was established in 1652 with the intent of growing fresh fruits and vegetables with which to replenish passing ships.

I kept thinking how much Sharon and her parents would enjoy this place.

Here, I’m enveloped by a rubber tree plant. Someone please cue the song:

Even the geese here are more exotic than the Canadian geese we see in the U.S.:

Across the street from the garden is the South African parliament building, where both houses of the legislative branch meet:

The South African, as you might know, essentially has three capitol cities. In addition to Cape Town, the judicial branch is based in Bloemfontein and the executive branch is based in Pretoria.

On the other side of the garden on Queen Victoria Street sat this little gem — the High Court Civil Annex building, built in 1898:

It was in this building that formal hearings were held to determine the race of a citizen of old apartheid South Africa.

From a plaque in front of the building (and edited slightly to Americanize the spelling):

In the 1960s, a room in this building was the scene of formal hearings of the most bizarre and humiliating kind as ordinary people came before an appeal panel to argue about what “race” they should be labeled. Between 1950 and 1991, apartheid’s Population Registration Act classified every South African as belonging to one of at least seven ‘races’ — and accordingly granted or denied them citizenship rights on a sliding scale from “White” (full rights) to “Bantu” (with the fewest). The classification was subjective, and families were split apart when paler or darker-skinned children or parents — or those with curlier hair, or different features — were placed in separate categories.

What amazed my Sunday tour companions were the two artifacts out front. Namely, these benches:

Most overt signs of old apartheid have been carefully removed from sight, I’m told. Given the sad history of these proud people — and the equally sad history of my own Southern U.S. homeland — I was honored to take a seat for freedom and equality:

From that point, our day went uphill. Literally.

A thick haze clung to the city as we parked our car at the base of Table Mountain, high above downtown Cape Town:

We wondered whether or not we’d have much of a view, given the weather. In fact, a third student has planned to join us Sunday but when he saw the skies, he chose to sleep in.

Even nearby Lion’s Head mountain — elevation 2,195 feet — lurked behind cloud cover:

We chose to press on to the top of Table Mountain, however. The mountain has no large parking lots, so visitors park along the narrow mountain road. You can walk to the sky lift or you can hire a gentleman to peddle you to the ticket booth:

Normally, I’m not very afraid of heights. But the dizzying height of this mountain at 3,566 feet, it towers more than two-thirds of a mile above the bay below — the sheer rock face and the gentle sway of the rising cable car caused me a few anxious moments:

A round-trip cable car ride for an adult costs 145 Rand — about $19 American. The trips begin at 8:30 a.m. in the winter and 8 a.m. in the spring, summer and fall. The last cable car down from the top leaves at 6 p.m. in winter and 8:30 p.m. in the summer.

It only takes a couple of minutes to make the trip. Meanwhile, the floor rotates to give everyone aboard a complete view of the area. That’s the good news.

The bad news? There are so many axes of movement. You’re moving a) up the cable, b) around a center point as the floor rotates. And c) there is a very slight sway. That, and the sheer face of the rock wall approaching at an alarming speed, was what caused my anxiety. I think.

When bad weather approaches, they sound an alarm to get folks to immediately ride down. You don’t want to be on the cable car during high winds:

“When you hear the hooter.” Heh.

You just won’t believe the view from the top. Incredible. Make sure you click on this one for a larger view:

On the left, being kissed by a cloud, is Lion’s Head mountain. The ridge to the right of it is Signal Hill — the peak I’ve been shooting from my hotel window. To the right of Signal Hill is downtown Cape Town.

Here’s a closeup of Lion’s Head. Click it. You won’t believe how clear everything looks:

In this next shot, I’m looking off the front of Table Mountain to the right, or East. That’s Devil’s Peak in the distance (Click for a larger view):

This is the view from the back of table mountain. Again, this is clickable:

This one is clickable, too. See that purple mountain, waaaaay in the upper left of this photo? That’s Cape Point, where I was on Saturday. It’s nearly 20 miles away!

When we arrived atop the mountain, we found quite a bit of cloud cover on the west and southwest sides. This, for example, is Camp’s Bay, peeking from beneath a blanket of fluffy clouds:

Within minutes, however, the clouds had moved off to the north — to your right, in these pictures — leaving us with a slightly better view of Camp’s Bay:

By lunchtime, the clouds were nearly gone…

…and by the time we decided to call it a day, the air between the top of Table Mountain and Camp’s Bay was crystal-clear:

Here’s a similar sequence in which a thick layer of clouds flowed like a river from among the mountain facade the locals call the Twelve Apostles (click each for a larger view):

It was so weird watching his happen right before my eyes. It was a powerful lesson in fluid dynamics. Or something like that.

This nice shot of downtown is clickable. Note the new soccer stadium just beyond Signal Hill, to the upper left:

Can you see what looks like an oil rig, tied up to the dock in the harbor? That’s exactly what it is. That’s the rig I saw towed into the bay Saturday morning.

I asked what was this large pool of water and was told it’s where helicopters refill their water tanks when putting out forest fires on and around Table Mountain:

We took dozens and dozens of photos. Salomé took pictures of the incredible view and sent them via her cell phone to the artist who bailed on us because of the weather.

After a nice lunch in the mountaintop restaurant, Hanlie talked me into enjoying the walking trails that criss-cross the enormous flat area atop the mountain. The paths go on and on, some with labels that explain the various plants and animal life:

At times, the terrain gets a little rough. Fearing an injury — I have notoriously weak ankles, which I twist all the time — I wasn’t too keen on doing this. I’m glad we did, though. The scenery was gorgeous:

We found these cute little animals everywhere, perched on the rocks and sunning themselves in the warm spring air:

They’re called dassies, I’m told.

Cute little guys. But very mean. I’m told if you try to feed them, they’ll rip off your fingers. Charming.

The walk around the top of the mountain features lots of sheer drops and areas where there are no handrails. Just the idea of walking on an uneven rock surface a few feet away from a drop of hundreds of feet made me very, very nervous.

And then there were places in which you could walk out on platforms that hang out over open space. Again, I’m not normally a guy with a huge fear of heights. But it was very, very difficult for me to pose for this shot:

Next, Salomé asked me to shoot one of her. Just as I clicked the shutter, she tossed up her hands and leaned back. In the viewfinder, all I could see was her going over backwards:

I have to admit, it scared the holy crap out of me.

On our way off the mountain, we discovered the local snack food we had failed to try:

We also found this scale model of Table mountain and surrounding highlands. Presumably, park guides can use this to explain the geology to kids and tour groups:

I tried orienting myself with this full-scale mockup of table mountain, to no avail. I guess I’m just stupid or something:

In all, it was a fabulously incredible morning atop Cape Town’s gorgeous Table Mountain. Just incredible. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Sunday.

I’m so grateful to my friends Salomé and Hanlie for sharing the experience with me:

And I’m grateful to Hanlie, in particular, for seeing to it that I got sunburned. Thanks, Hanlie!

Once we left Table Mountain, I added to my collection of local signs that made me laugh. What kind of movies do you suppose they show at this theater?

We drove to the center of downtown Cape Town. The old Renaissance-style City Hall building — built in 1905 — towers over what appears to be a large parking lot:

In fact, that’s the Grand Parade, where troops performed drills in the 1700s and 1800s. Every Wednesday and Saturday, I’m told, hundreds of fruit and flower dealers set up booths and the place becomes a gigantic open market.

The reason we came down here, however, was to visit the oldest structure in all of South Africa, the Iziko Castle of Good Hope. The fort was built between 1666 and 1679 by the Dutch who inhabited this land:

The old star-shaped fort has been restored, allowing you to see what it would have looked like at various points in its history. There’s even a moat.

Inside, buildings were used as headquarters for various military dignitaries. You see the entrance to a museum — the William Fehr Collection — here on the right, under the covered porch. They wouldn’t let us take photos in there, but inside we found paintings and furniture hundreds of years old:

That porch itself — called the De Kat Balcony — was itself constructed in 1695.

Naturally, the mountains surrounding downtown loom beautifully in the background. Here, Hanlie and Salomé appear oblivious to Lion’s Head behind them:

The slate stones inset in the floors of the castle were quarried by prisoners at Robben Island, just off the coast in Table Bay.

Modern renovators used sketches and written descriptions to restore this old “Dolphin Pool” fountain in the executive portion of the fort:

There were plenty of dark passages and compartments open for inspection. Dungeons, storage areas for ammunition and food and so on:

We ran out of time, however. The fort closed for the day. We had time for just one last quick photo by the entrance. Naturally, I posed like the humble, respectful American tourist that I am:

We went to our respective hotels in order to freshen up and then met again for a quick shuttle ride over to the waterfront area. I just had to smile when I saw table mountain — where we spent most of the day — keeping careful watch over us as the sun set Sunday evening:

Naturally, I’m overjoyed to add to my amusing sign collection:

Hanlie and Salomé insisted on my trying a local dish. Hanlie pushed the ox tail — she pushed it a little too hard, if you know what I mean, so I pushed back hard to avoid it. Instead, I went for what they called Karoo lamb bredie — a stew made of lamb, onions and other vegetables:

It was quite good, in fact. I’m very grateful for my friends pushing me to try it.

Interestingly for Americans, though, the stew still contains bones. Which can make it a little more difficult to eat than, say, an American-style beef stew. Just so you know.

Our waitress for the evening was a very cute woman by the name of Lizelle. She certainly earned her money Sunday night. I’m a notoriously picky eater — especially when I’m out of the U.S. Without her, I would have opted for only the most conservative of choices at her restaurant:

By the way, do I look a little pink in that photo? I got a lot of sun earlier Sunday at Table Mountain. As of this morning, some of that redness has faded. But not all of it.

After our dinner, we decided to sample some local drinks. Hanlie watched with glee as Salomé and I each downed two glasses of Mampoer, a very potent drink served in a tall shot glass, chilled in a bowl of ice. I’m told it’s the South African equivalent of moonshine.

As you can see, it’s impossible to drink Mampoer without breaking out in giggles:

Many of you know I’m not a liquor person — I’m more of a beer kind of guy. But, y’know, when in Rome.

Hanlie snapped this sequence of me knocking back my glass of mampoer and the reaction it caused:

The only thing I can compare it to is jet airplane fuel. It burned going down.

Luckily, though, it caused no aftereffects. I woke up fine this morning and I’m having no headache or hangover.

No, I’m potitevely norbal dotay…

—
EXPEDITION TO SOUTH AFRICA

You’re reading chapter 12 of my journey to Cape Town, South Africa. Previous installments:

This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 9:31 am and is filed under Charles Apple, Travelogue, Trip to South Africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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A Sunday visit to Cape Town’s Table Mountain

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