Cape Town & the World's Oldest Mountain
We got up before first light and headed to the airport to catch our flight from Nairobi to Johannesburg, South Africa. Once in Johannesburg we went through immigration and then customs, re-checking our luggage on to Cape Town. With time to kill we went in search of a watering hole, using the skills we developed on safari we quickly tracked one down. We met a bloke from Cape Town, who was in the “diamond business”, nuff said. He gave us some good tips on Cape Town and after talking with him I got the feeling Cape Town would be much like Sydney, Australia, and in a way I was right. He turned us on to Marzen Gold as the brew of choice, so we had a few and then boarded our flight to Cape Town.
We got to Cape Town and meet our driver and guide, Greg. As we left the airport I had a strange thought, we were for the first time on this trip in civilization. But who was I to say or even think that, I was wrong. Yes, places were different, some more developed then others, but they all had the same needs, they would all be willing to help out, they were all part of one big civilization that we never left.
We were going to first head up Table Mountain before going to the hotel, and the good, no wait, great news was that they had a cable car to take you to the top. So while you can hike to the top, there is an easier way. I was excited to see the cable car used the same “S” configuration that was used on Whistler’s new record setting Peak to Peak gondola, two guide ropes and one pull rope. Why? Because it is very windy in Cape Town, and we were lucky that we went up today because winds would shut down the mountain the rest of the time we were in Cape Town. So if it works in these conditions I would have no worries going from Whistler to Blackcomb in the worst blizzards.
Some people think Chicago, IL is the wind city, some people are very wrong. We were near the very edge of the southern point of Africa, and between the 50th and 70th parallel there is no land mass to obstruct ocean currents or winds, so it blows big. As we rode up the cable car the floor rotated so we could see in all directions.
The views from the top were stunning. Off in the distance you could see Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. To the right of that on the land there is a circular building that would host the World Cup, something that we call soccer but the rest of the world calls football. They are excited and you can feel the hype of the upcoming tournaments, very much the same way you can feel Whistler gearing up for the 2010 winter Olympics.
Based on the sandstone layers and the granite base many believe this to be the Earth’s very first mountain, dating it back over 800,000,000 years old. It's pretty cool to think you might be standing on the world's oldest mountain.
Then the clouds came in and it was nothing but a whitish-grey haze that was kind of spooky. We saw a few people climbing the mountain to the top, all who which held their position until this blew over.
Lucky for them it was not that long.
We got back down and then headed to dinner at Cargills. This place was awesome, only eight tables, an amazing menu and great selection of wine. Although if it was not for my sister becoming a chef and enjoying many tasting menus with wine parings over the years I’m not sure I would have been able to fully appreciated this dining experience. I had the Fillet of Game and it just melted in your mouth, it was great to be pampered after all our travels.
We were going to head out on the town that night but after an amazing meal like that, along with the wine, we were ready to call it a night at the guest house. We would be staying at 51 on Kloofnek, a house converted in to a guest house with 5 rooms, pool, dining area, and awesome view of Table Mountain.