Compact Travels - Exploring Places Like Never Before...

At around 1345 hours we arrived at Cape town Airport and were greeted by Zaino from Mathews Tours who was going to take care of our stay in the Western Cape for the remainder of our trip. It was exactly half way through our Fundi tour and on reaching Western Cape we found out that there is so much to do in and around Capetown that you can simply spend days exploring the area which is rightly known as the fairest Cape in the whole circumference of the earth. In the next few days we would soon find why justifiably is Cape town amongst the top 5 most attractive cities in the world.

From the airport we drove towards our hotel where we were to stay in the Western Cape region and the most imposing view for most of our trip was the magnificent Table Mountain. Fortunately we experienced excellent weather almost for our entire trip in the Western Cape region and as is recommended by most tour operators, it is essential to visit the Table Mountain first especially when you experience fine weather and we would soon discover why most travel itineraries to Cape town always have “weather permitting” indicated whenever there is a mention of the Table Mountain.

Cape town and its environs is a major tourist attraction as it is from here that you can take a day tour to explore the vast winelands, experience fine cuisine at world-class restaurants, visit Hout Bay, take the Cape Peninsular Tour and start your journey for the world famous Garden Route that takes you to the Ostrich Capital Outshoorn and then to Knysna and finally to George on the Choe Tjoe Train which is a tourist attraction by itself. Those who want to go much deeper into the Eastern Cape region can end their journey at Port Elizabeth. Unfortunately, Garden Route was not part of our agenda and we had to be contented with the other interesting places in and around Cape Town.

We were most eager to see the south-western tip of Africa where the cold Atlantic meets the warm Indian Ocean. Because of its strategic location Cape town experiences extreme climatic conditions and you can at times experience all the four seasons of the year in a single day.

Hence, visiting Table Mountain first is a must as if you get a span of wet and/or windy weather you may not be able to go up the Table Mountain in the 3600 revolving cable car which is a spectacular ride by itself.

Known as South Africa's Mother City, Cape town was founded in 1652 by a ships' supply base of the Dutch East India Company. The city spreads out in front of the Table Mountain which dominates the city at more than 1000m above sea level and is flanked by Devil's Peak in the East and Lion's Head and Signal Hill in the West. Those who miss out on visiting the Table Mountain due to weather conditions have to be contented by visiting Signal Hill. We were fortunate to visit both these scenic heights which give an exceptional view of the city.

We first checked in at the Holiday Inn Capetown Hotel located on Strand Street which unfortunately is a run-down property today, although it is of excellent value because of its strategic location and it is in close proximity to Cape town's No 1 attraction the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, more populary known as the V&A Waterfront. There are as many as four or probably five Holiday Inn hotels in Cape Town itself .There is a regular shuttle service to & from Holiday Inn Strand Street to the V&A which is an excellent place to spend your evenings. At the V& A besides shopping, you can try out some of the finest international cuisines as well as enjoy a drink and the area comes to life after sunset and continues till the wee hours of the morning. In the day time too the V&A is a busy place especially for the boat ride to the World Heritage Site where Nelson Mandela was prisoned for most of his life. Well I am referring to Robben Island - the South African Alcatraz ,which is a must visit for all tourists to Cape town.

As we went up the escalator to check-in and leave our luggage, we took the glass elevator to the 20th Floor as my room no was 2005 at the Holiday Inn from where you get a majestic view of the imposing Table Mountain.

The city is indeed a photographer's delight as you can finish your camera rolls or your memory stick in your digital camera pretty soon as we all experienced during our stay in the Western Cape region. Immediately after checking in, we didn't waste any time and took the coach to the point where we would take the revolving cable car to reach on top of the Table Mountain.

Those who are fitness freaks can take a one way ticket for the Cable Car which costs about 55 Rands (approximately Rs 400) and can probably climb down the mountain which is indeed a tough ask. The cable car takes a whopping 600000 tourists annually on the Rotair cable car which rides at approximately 10 metres every second.

The Rotair cable car runs from Cape town to the top of the Table mountain and carries 65 passengers. The round form of the Rotair cabin enables the passengers to have a 360 degree panoramic view of the city. Once atop you can eat in the restaurant, buy souvenirs in the souvenir shops and most importantly take a tour of the inner circle or the outer circle.

The outer circle walk takes about 25 minutes from the cable car station and is a popular route giving you the most spectacular view from one of the world's most striking wonders. The Flat-topped plateau overlooks the city of Cape town and on the western side you can see the Twelve Apostles standing along the Atlantic coast. The level summit is three kilometers long and its highest point is at 1086 metres known as the Maclear's Beacon.

It is named after the famous astronomer Sir Thomas Maclear who erected this beacon way back in 1843 as part of an experiment to more accurately measure the circumference of the earth.

The mountain has in fact shaped the ecology of this region as Cape town experiences a Mediterranean type climate with mild wet winters and warm dry summers. During the months of November to March, the “Cape Doctor” blows reaching speeds of 120 km per hour and the wind drives warm moisture laden air from the sea which when driven over the Table Mountain cools and condenses into cloud to form the famous “table cloth” like fog or mist which we experienced over the city during our stay. At times, the mornings was covered with this “table cloth” like cloud and it used to clear out during the day.

One of the most important highlights of the Table Mountain is its fauna and flora. In fact its Flora is internationally renowned for its extraordinary floral biodiversity. Hence, it is a must visit for the nature lovers. On Table Mountain alone you will find over 1500 species of plants and for more of the same you have to visit the Cape Peninsular Park and in Cape Town the Kirstenbosch Gardens. In fact the Cape Peninsular park itself has over 2200 species of plant and is one of the World Heritage Sites.

The most common vegetation type on Table Mountain is the fynbos which is a low growing shrubby vegetation and includes the protea. The Protea Cynaroides which is also called the King Protea is South Africa's national emblem and therefore the South Africans are also known as Proteas and one of the leading hotel chains in South Africa are the Protea Hotels.

Amongst the Fauna, the most popular one is the Dassie which resembles a brownish colour rabbit and is 50 cm in length. It can also be compared to a rodent and one warning you find all around the Table Mountain is not to feed the dassies as they do bite. So beware of the dassies on the Table Mountain and instead enjoy the spectacular views and the walk around this magnificent structure which is believed to be in existence for over million years, probably much older than any other mountain anywhere in the world including the Himalayas. We just didn't want to leave the Table Mountain and at the same time did not want to miss out on the last cable car return ride which would bring us to ground level. Regretfully we had to leave this most scenic and spectacular mountain top with the hope of returning back once again in the near future.

We had some time in the evening and we took the shuttle to explore the V&A Waterfront which was the other extreme of the Table Mountain, illuminated and bustling with people and activity and we tried some fine Spanish cuisine in one of the international restaurants before returning to our hotel.

That evening as we were taking the escalator up to the 20th floor we saw one of the most amazing sights of the outline of this ominous Table Mountain standing out in the dark of the night and dominating the city - Unfortunately such sights cannot be captured by the lens of a camera.

The following morning we had a long day ahead as the agenda included a City Tour which comprised of visiting the Signal Hill, the Castle of Good Hope and later a trip to the Alcatraz of South Africa - Robben Island.

For more on our exciting stay in the Western Cape region continue reading Opportunities Today.