Table Mountain

Table Mountain is to Cape Town what the Eifel Tower is to Paris, or the Golden Gate Bridge is to San Francisco, but it was constructed by nature. Its beauty towers over the entire Cape luring you to come explore. Going on the expert advice provided at the reception of our guest house, Maria and I checked the weather forecast in the beginning of our stay, identified the day of the week forecasted to have the clearest, least windy day, and planned this day for a trip up to Table Mountain. The plan worked out perfectly… we had a beautiful day for our adventure. Often described as magical and mystical, Table Mountain is visible from almost everywhere in Cape Town and is often used as a beacon by which to find direction.
The mountain rises 3,567 ft. Its flat summit measures nearly 3km and provides breathtaking views over the city and its beaches. Table Mountain is home to a rich fauna and flora, many species of which are endemic and survive only in the unique ecosystem which is contained on the mountain. There are approximately 1470 species of plants, including over 250 different species of daisies! Examples of endemic plants are the rare Silver Tree and the wild orchid Disa Uniflora. Animals such as baboons and porcupines live here freely, as well as furry rodents called Rock Dassies. These little creatures look like plump rabbits without ears - incredibly, their closest living relative is the elephant! The Table Mountain Ghost Frog is an example of an animal found in no other place on the world.

I was shocked when I realized that you could actually see whales breaching. I noticed they were so close to the shore. If you could see them from the top of Table Mountain, imagine how well you could see them from the shore?! We had arranged to rent a car for the next day to drive along the coast…right past the very spot where the whales were breaching. This had me very excited about road trip!