Cape Town Tourist Attractions – Table Mountain

Locals simply call it “the mountain”. This famous flat-topped block of horizontally bedded sandstone dominating Table Bay is a lodestone to all who live there – a compass, an anchor, a wilderness in the heart of the Mother City. No visit to Cape Town is complete without gaining a view from the top of Table Mountain.

The journey up takes about six minutes, but expect to queue for up to several hours along during the peak summer holiday season. On average, 1500 people per day go up to the 1000 meter summit of Table Mountain through Tower Cableway Station.

For those with enough determination, there is another way of getting to the top on foot. One of the easier hiking routes starts from the botanical gardens at Kirstenbosch and takes about 3 hours. Be aware, though that conditions can change very quickly on the mountain, make sure you take suitable protection in case it rains.

The magnificent 560-hectare Kirstenbosh National Botanic Gardens grace the mountain’s eastern slopes. Here formally laid-out beds display some of South Africa’s showiest flora before blending into the natural fynbos and yellowwood forests on the mountain slopes.

Planking Table Mountain are the imposing peaks of Lion’s Head and Devil Peak. It was on the slopes of the latter, according to legend, that a retired soldier named Van Hunk was challenged by the devil to a pipe-smoking contest. The result of their showdown can best be judged in the summer time when a motionless sheet of cloud, which is popularly known as the “tablecloth”, often heads over the mountain-top.

Devil’s Peak is also the site of Groote Schuur Estate, once owned by Cecil Rhodes. Bequeathed to the nation on his death in 1902, it now included a number of ministerial residences as well as the campus of the University of Cape Town. The Groote Schuur hospital and medical school here was the scene for the world’s first heart transplant performed by Professor Chris Barnard in 1967.