Hiking with Bob on Table Mountain

Bonjour,

Before leaving South Africa and while taking advantage of the unseasonably sunny and pleasant weather, we hiked to the cable car station at the base of Table Mountain, took the cable car up to the top and then meandered for hours on the paths up there, at least until the thick cloud cover (the "tablecloth") rolled in off the sea.

The clouds were almost scary, because they came in fast, rolling over the rocks and completely covering us in a thick fog (and we were already pressing to get back in time for the last lift down). At times, with the sharp drop off nearby, you felt almost like you were on the edge of the world.

Table Mountain is about 3500 feet above Cape Town, so when it is clear, it has some predictably beautiful views of the city, coastline, and surrounding mountains.

You can hike to the top of Table Mountain, but it is a pretty intense, steep climb, so we thought it made more sense with the kids to take the cable car and save our energy for the paths at the top.


And that was almost a perfect plan.

Then Bob found us one of his "shortcuts" when we walking along the not-particularly-pleasant road leading to the cable car. Bob said the path would lead us right there.

Again, almost.

But after we had gone a bit too far to turn back, we lost the path. Bob kept the lead, forging the way through the scratchy bush, with the rest of us drooping behind him. With Tommy and me in shorts, we got pretty scraped up, something you can be sure I let Bob know.

It was not until we were leaving Table Mountain at the end of the day that we saw this sign, exactly where we had followed Bob up through the rough bush. It probably explains why no one else was hiking there.

As Tommy would tell you, this area is home to the Cape Cobra, which are found nowhere else in the world.

Lovely.

I really hope that they were still hibernating for the winter.

But we made it safely back to our cozy and warm hotel, and had some hot tea (and maybe a bit of port for me) to warm up. And the next day, it was off to Namibia, where there are just as many (more?) things to bite, sting or eat you...

A bientot,

Kim