Drop off and retrieve Travel Bugs at this secure, 5 star Hotel on top of Table Mountain, a Natural Wonder of the World!
It would be so nice to hear where in the world you are from in your log!!
You will need the code: 2578 and 4628 to open the cache. Please read what to do when you open the cache. Remember to slide the latch at the base of the lock to open it .
Remember to take a photo of the view of the City and The Mountain!!
Many thanks to The Management of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company who have given permission for this cache, and helped place it!
Thanks too to The Pooks and to the original CO - Capedoc.
For information regarding opening times, rates, history and other fascinating information about the Cableway, click here.
TABLE MOUNTAIN:
Table mountain is an iconic landmark in the middle of Cape Town. It forms part of a World Heritage Site.
Did you Know?
- Table Mountain may be in your pocket. It is featured on the old R100 note:
- Table Mountain is the ONLY geographic feature on earth to have a constellation named after it! The constellation is called Mons Mensa.
Features
- The main feature of Table Mountain is a level plateau approximately 3km (2mi) from side to side, surrounded by steep cliffs.
- The highest point on Table Mountain is marked by Maclear's Beacon. It is 1,086 metres (3,563 ft) above sea level, about 19 metres (62 ft) higher than the cable station.
Maclear's Beacon
- The flat top of the mountain is often covered by clouds/mist/fog spilling over the top to form the "table cloth". Legend has it that a retired pirate, Jan Van Hunks, sat smoking his pipe on the mountain one day and met up with the devil. In order to preserve his soul, the pirate challenged the devil in a smoking contest. So they stoked up their pipes and have been smoking ever since. The table cloth is the result of of their smoking contest. For more click here.
Fauna
- The Fauna on table Mountain includes a wealth of invertebrate species. No less than 111 of the invertebrates are found nowhere else on earth! This is also true for one vertebrate, The Table Mountain Ghost Frog, pictured below:
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Table Mountain Ghost Frog
- The most common animal on the mountain is the dassie, or rock hyrax.
- Caracal are the biggest predator that may be seen.
- The last lion in the area was shot circa 1802. Leopards persisted on the mountain until perhaps the 1920s but are now extinct locally
Flora
- There are 3 main vegetation types on Table Mountain: Fynbos ("fine bush"), Renosterbos ("Rhinoceros bush") and Afro Montane Forest and Thicket. Together these vegetation types constitute a flora so rich in species that it is the richest area, for its size, anywhere on the planet! This is why it forms part of the World Heritage Site.
- Table mountain alone (excluding the rest of the peninsula) has over 1500 species of plant, more than the WHOLE of the UNITED KINGDOM!
Disa Uniflora
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History
- Prehistoric people first left evidence here more than 600,000 years ago.
- The original name given to the mountain by the first Khoi inhabitants was Hoeri 'kwaggo ("sea mountain").
- The first recorded ascent of Table mountain was by António de Saldanha in 1503 (a Portuguese admiral and explorer after whom Saldanha bay is named). He also credited with naming Table Mountain. That's 150 years before Van Riebeck landed and started the settlement of Cape Town!
- Fires are common on the mountain. The most recent major fire came in January 2006, destroying large amounts of vegetation and resulting in the death of a tourist. A charge of arson and culpable homicide was laid against a British man who was suspected of starting the blaze.
Fire on the Mountain
Cableway
- Since it's opening in 1929, over 20 million people have taken the trip to the top of Table Mountain. The Table Mountain cableway has since become something of a landmark in Cape Town, and has carried some of Cape Town's most illustrious visitors including King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II, as well as Oprah Winfrey, Sting, Stefi Graf, Arnold Schwarzenneger, Magaret Thatcher, Prince Andrew, Micheal Schumacher, Brooke Shields, Micheal Buble, Tina Turner, Jackie Chan, Dolores O'Riordan, Skunk Anansie and Paul Oakenfold.
The old Cableway.