Table Mountain

Table Mountain, Cape Town’s natural wonder.

The iconic, plateau-esque mountain runs right through the city of Cape Town. We began our hike up from Kierstenbosch Gardens, a gorgeous area with a greenhouse, endless plant species and a few trailheads leading up Table Mountain. Out of the over 500 trails on Table Mountain, we picked one called Skeleton Gorge, which runs alongside a small waterfall. The Gorge is one of the more direct routes up, so it was a lot of vertical climbing. At the end of Skeleton’s Gorge we finally climbed past the tree line for a breathtaking view of the city. Once we reached the “top” (despite to how it looks from the ground, the top isn’t actually flat… There are lots of smaller peaks all over the top of the mountain), we took Smut’s Track through a good chunk of Table Mountain to reach McClear’s Beacon, the highest point on the mountain. We continued on to the Western Table where the Cable Station and Table Mountain Cafe are located. Our entire trip took about 4.5 hours. The Western Table also had an incredible view because it was above the clouds. It looked kind of like it does when you’re in an airplane, except you’re standing on the edge of this gorgeous mountain and feeling the breeze and hearing all of the sounds of the nature that’s around you.

After enjoying the view for a bit, we took the cable car down while enjoying the sunset.