AFRICA -  DAY SIXTEEN - Table Mountain

Previous Blogs: Day 1 Pretoria | Day 4 Dinokeng | Day 5 New Years | Day 6+7 Umdloti | Day 8 - DumaZulu | Day 9 Hluhluwe | Day 10+11 PE to Knysna | Day 12 Ostrich Farm | Day 13 Hermanus | Day 14 Hout Bay | Day 15 Cape Point | Day 16 Table Mountain | Day 17+18 Namib Desert | Day 19 Sossusvlei | Day 20+21 To Swakopmund | Day 22 Cape Cross | Day 23 Luderitz | Day 24 Walvis Bay | Day 26 To Windhoek | Day 27 Katatura | Day 28+29 Zambezi | Day 30 The Falls | Day 31 Chobe | Day 32+33 Going Home

Click photos for a larger image...

Today we ventured into Cape Town proper following the coast line from our base in Hout Bay through Camps Bay, Clifton and Seapoint.

As always there was something stunning

to see along the way.

Our first stop was at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. Basically a giant mall attached to the harbor with all kinds of activities, restaurants, shoppes, museums and what not. It was originally modeled on San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf.

We HAD to go on the Ferris Wheel the latest attraction added in 2016.

Air conditioned comfort.

Great view of Table Mountain and the harbor

We then went to the food market where there are stalls you can buy and kind of food or snack you want! Deer steak? No problem. Rooti, swarma, curry, sushi, it's all there! I had a lamb meat pie (of course), mom had ice cream and Wendy got a traditional

South African pancake (crepe).

Of COURSE there is a biltong stand. We

bought Kudu biltong - which is a buck found in Africa.

The original clock tower and port office built in 1882

You can take all kinds of boat rides. 

Yup - first time in our lives we opted out of a boat ride.

Now it was time to take the cable car ride up

to the top of Table Mountain!

Table Mountain is 3500 feet high! It was formed 260 million years ago making it 6 times older than the Himalayas and 5 times older than the Rockies. The next closest mountain range in age are the Andes at 250 million years old.

Due to erosion, it is now 2/3's of its original height.

There is a restaurant on top where we had drinks.

 (Of course!!)

The view of Cape Town is spectacular

A little hazy but you get the idea!

Nope, that's not scary at all!

This is a Dassie (Rock Rabbit). They live on the

mountain and believe it or not are the closest

relative to an elephant!  This close evolutionary relationship is deduced from similarities in the

structure of the feet and teeth.

See him looking out on the view from the shade? They have collapsible rib cages so they can fit in tiny spaces and their feet secrete a sweat that helps them cling to the rocks.

Then it was time to take the cable car back to the ground again.

As you go down the floor in the cable car floor rotates 360 degrees so everyone gets to see everything

Here's a short video so you can see how the floor rotates!

Our final stop was a drive up Signal Hill, directly opposite Table Mountain for a final view of the mountain.

In 2012, Table Mountain was inaugurated as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.  Cool, huh?

And finally...

Some interesting stuff we saw today:

To the left is a bicycle stand...

...must be short of room to hang them vertically.

Sushi on a conveyor belt, grab what you want as it comes past your table!

Tomorrow we head to Namibia.  Wendy is extremely excited as she's never been there and looking forward to getting her "photographic mojo" in gear.