Abseiling Table Mountain

The roommates, Melinda, and I woke up very early to begin our day.  We caught the 9:00 direct bus to Table Mountain and the streets were empty.  No one was up and about in the city because everything is closed.  We tried to go to Bread, Milk, & Honey for breakfast, but it wasn’t open.  The only place open was KFC breakfast. 

The bus dropped us off at the lower cable station for the cable car up to Table Mountain.  The cable car has been open for 80 years and it takes only about 5 minutes to reach the top.  It is made of glass and has a rotating floor so that you get an entire 360 degree view during your trip up to the top.  The weather was gorgeous and fairly sunny, but still cold especially once we got out at the top 1000 meters above sea level.

Here we booked our trip with Abseil Africa.  Andrew taught us how to work the ropes and the safety precautions.  Then we climbed up and over the pathways and went to the edge of the mountain.  Kenyatta and I went first.  We were harnessed in and had a safety rope as well as our own belaying rope.  Then you slowly lean back until you are tipped off the edge of the mountain.  Here they put on the safety mechanism, you let go with your hands and take an awesome photograph hanging off the side. 

Then we began repelling down.  You can just slowly step down and release the cord or you can jump and release.  I spent most of the time leaping backward from the cliff face and rebounding back inward.  The view was absolutely spectacular.  We were on the Camps Bay side overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the 12 Apostles.  About 1/3 of the way down the rock face disappears and you start free falling without any rock support.  You descend based on the speed you are belaying at.  We ended the abseiling 112 meters down – over 300 feet from where we started.  Once all 5 of us completed the trip, we had a 30 minute hike back up to the top of the mountain.  It turns out that it is on one of the more experienced paths.  There was vegetation everywhere and little trickles of water that seep through the rocks. I can see how people get lost when hiking the mountain which is typically a 3.5-4 hour trek from the lower cable station up.

Back on top of the mountain we wandered over the flat surface learning about the extremely diverse ecosystem of plants and animals that live up there.  We had lunch at the restaurant.  Then we saw one of the strange animals, a Dassie.  It was posing for us on the rocks. Apparently they favor sunshine, although it was very cold still despite the sun.  We took the cable car back down the mountain and got on the red bus.

We once again went back to the waterfront; my 3^rd time since I arrived in Cape Town.  We took the canal tour which came free with our bus tickets. The canals are in the back area of the waterfront by luxurious apartments and hotels.  Apparently Oprah owns one of the apartments and Mariah Carey came for the grand hotel opening.  We shopped around through the local craft markets before ending our bus tour.  We had dinner at the Eastern Food Bazzar which has a bunch of different stalls selling delicious Indian food.