TABLE MOUNTAIN, SA

Habitually clad in white clouds, Table Mountain rises over Cape Town. Sometimes though, the clouds ascend or descend and only the foggy “tablecloth” hangs over one of the ends of the “table” revealing a marvelous sight. If you look at the Table Mountain from below, from the bay, it seems to have an absolutely flat top stretching for 3.2 kilometers from one end to the other. Its steep slopes rise above sea level for 1067 meters.

From the harbor the mountain looks like a grandiose blue-green monolith slightly quivering in hot weather in the haze of the heat; and, of course, it is a long awaited sign for many sailors who fight storms at the Cape of Good Hope. From the Atlantic Ocean breaking the line of the horizon there is a sandstone range known as the Twelve Apostles.

The Table Mountain is the northern tip of the mountain range stretching between Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope. The range consists of sandstone and quartz lying on top of more ancient granites and shale. East of the Table Mountain is the Devil’s Peak 975 meters high; west of it – lower peaks, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill 640 and 335 meters correspondingly.

The tablecloth rests upon the top of the Table Mountain but it never comes down to its lower slopes. The clouds that form the tablecloth are brought by the south-eastern wind, which is constantly pushing them north, down the slopes, to Cape Town; but usually they do not remain there. Clouds may gather on the summit suddenly, which makes the weather unpredictable. The belief about bad weather on the Table Mountain at all times is proven by figures: the annual precipitation in Cape Town is 650 millimeters, while on the Table Mountain it reaches 1830 millimeters.

Heavy rains throughout millions of years washed out many deep ravines in the slopes of the mountain; the deepest one of them – the Gorge – is at the same time the shortest way to the peak. The view opening from the Table Mountain on a fair day is breathtaking.

The first European who reached the region of Cape Town in 1488 was Bartolomeu Dias and he named it the Stormy Cape. When twenty two years later Portuguese seamen were slaughtered by the local tribe of Khoikhoi, ships started to avoid these places and only in 1652 a Dutch settlement was founded in the Table Bay to supply the passing ships of the East India Company. The first settlers built a fortress, which can be still seen there today.