Table Mountain

Named for its striking shape and famed as a natural wonder, Table Mountain can be accessed by cable car to the very top. The cars rotate 360 degrees during the trip and what a view it is! Below us lie pristine beaches, sheltered bays and secluded coves and between the mountain and the deep blue ocean is spread out the cosmopolitan hub of Cape Town. Table Mountain was declared a World Heritage Site in 2001. A number of species found here are unique, existing nowhere else in the world like the Table Mountain ghost frog and the well-known mountain rabbit called Dizzie Dassie! Ravines, waterfalls and indigenous plants add to the delights offered, with something for everyone—hikers, rock climbers, paragliders, and bird-watchers.

Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

Cape Town’s municipal caretakers have made sure the city’s manmade charms do not suffer in comparison. Built in 1860, and still a working harbour, the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront has been developed into one of South Africa’s biggest tourist attractions. Annually around 24 million visitors have fun at this food and entertainment area, which preserves its historic character.

Original buildings have been renovated and new ones built, all in Victorian style. Luxury accommodation is amply available. The superb Table Bay hotel, where I have stayed twice in the past, and the Cape Grace Hotel, where I have had some pretty memorable dinners, occupy pride of place on different sites facing the ocean. In addition, there are museums, boat cruises, restaurants, pubs, shopping centres, cinemas, an amphitheatre, craft markets, Two Oceans Aquarium, the Scratch Patch and a rich variety of outdoor entertainment! Come nightfall, visitors flock here for food and entertainment aplenty.

Mother City

For the original settlers from The Netherlands who arrived here all those centuries ago around 1652, the sight of the majestic Table Mountain must have been as welcoming then as it is today, providing a magnificent backdrop to Mother City. Mother City is the area around modern day Cape Town where the country’s history of colonisation started, when the Dutch East India Company established a 17th century victualling station on Table Bay’s pristine shore. With colonisation, the Cape of Good Hope established a lasting tradition of hospitality, leading weary explorers and sailors to rename it ‘The Tavern of the Seas’.

Penguins Pirouette

We’re setting out, bright and chirpy on a misty morning with our guide-cum-chauffeur, who like all guides in South Africa, is fully qualified after submitting to a tough course and exam. Just out of our superb Table Bay Hotel at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, we head towards Simons Town, a picturesque, old English seaside resort where you must stop. Five minutes away is Boulders Bay, where colonies of penguins breed, eat and swim. It’s fascinating to watch these birds walk and hop over rocks just like we humans would do and then dive into the waters like dolphins. African Penguins are also popularly known as jackass penguins because of their distinctive braying, and they’re the only penguins found on the continent.

Cape Point

Remember your geography lessons in school? When they taught you about the two oceans that meet in harmony at Cape Point? The Cape Point, with its diverse habitats, ranging from rocky mountain tops to beaches and open sea and the Cape of Good Hope, is home to at least 250 species of birds. Large animals are a rare sight here, but there are a wealth of small animals such as lizards, snakes, tortoises and insects. But let’s not forget the Papio Ursinus community, known to you as baboons who are rampant here subsisting on fruits, insects and scorpions.

Anticipation is rife, as we drive through the entrance. The Cape Peninsula National Park is a 7,750 hectares reserve of indigenous flora and fauna that is zealously protected and impeccably maintained, with sign-posted roads. A great deal of care has been taken to protect the environmental integrity of the place. For the best view, you have to make your way up to the platform of the Old Lighthouse. Some tourists prefer to walk on a pleasantly landscaped path, which takes you by easy stages to the top, the other alternative is to go up on the funicular railway. There is still a climb of 125 steps from the top of the funicular to the Old Lighthouse, but the extra effort is well worth it. The view from the platform of the old Cape Point lighthouse is simply magnificent. I look down at the fury of the sea.

Considerable disagreement has always existed as to exactly where the division between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean lies. Some put it at Cape Point and some at Cape Agulhas. It probably swings between the two, depending on whether the warm Agulhas current moves further to the west or the cold Benguela current moves to the east. The interplay between these two massive and powerful ocean currents is the key to understanding the changeable nature of the Cape weather, which we experienced firsthand, rather suddenly. One minute it’s a clear day, the next, storm clouds have appeared out of nowhere. Before we can get off the platform of the lighthouse, the sky has opened and thick cold drops come pelting down. We are wet, but we walk down to the station base happy and hungry, trooping into the one and only restaurant that seats 300 people. A window table, hot piping food and a bottle of red Pinotage wine.

Robben Island

Who in the world has not heard of Nelson Mandela? This remarkable leader spent 18 of his 27 years in prison here on Robben Island, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, the island’s history predates the Apartheid regime. Over the centuries, it has acted as a prison, a military base and a leper colony. Ferries depart for the island daily from the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront, and the tours (including the ferry trips) usually last about three-and-a-half hours.