Table Mountain – Cape Town, South Africa

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While originally booking our springtime trip to South Africa, I was pretty excited about going to Table Mountain in Cape Town.  (Admittedly since it was part of a challenge on Amazing Race awhile back lol).  The gorgeous views atop the mountain, and the fun ride up to it sounded cool to me.

Well, let me tell you how awesome it was…. just kidding.  One thing I can say is when you’re in Cape Town (at least in spring) if you want to go to Table Mountain, try to keep your schedule flexible.  We did that, but still couldn’t make it work.  The weather plays a huge factor in whether you can get up to the top of the mountain or not.  Our scheduled day was really rainy and had poor visibility so Table Mountain was closed.  We went to the botanical gardens instead that day, and tried again the next day.

The next morning I believe it was too windy to go.  So we rescheduled again.  The third attempt… the mountain was open!  BUT… we pulled into the parking lot just in time to see the last Cableway trip up the mountain for the day.  Total bummer.  Looked gorgeous, and our tour guide tried really hard to make it work.  Oh well.  Instead we drove up another mountain to overlook the city and get better views OF Table Mountain, just not FROM it.

Such beautiful views of Cape Town.  There were guinea hens running around at the top of the mountain (which I find really funny, and love to watch), and the sun was near setting.  Even though we didn’t make it up to Table Mountain, the day still turned out nice, and we were exhausted as usual after a full day of exploring.

If I ever get back to South Africa, I’d try to take the Cableway up the Mountain again…. AND… go cage diving with Great White Sharks!  (Another thing we were hoping would work out but didn’t… also needs flexibility in scheduling due to weather etc.)  Our trip was about 10 days and was split between Cape Town, and a Safari.  There was definitely a lot we didn’t get to see and do, but I’m glad we were able to go at all (getting time off for both of us at the same time was tricky).  If you’re traveling to South Africa I’d recommend staying longer than a week and a half if you can :)