Day 6 - Table Mountain

Well the weather guessers were right...

...it was a BEAUTIFUL day!

Exactly what you want when going up onto Table Mountain.

Table Mountain is a plateau approximately 3 km from side to side, surrounded by steep cliffs. The plateau, flanked by Devil's Peak to the east and by Lion's Head to the west, forms a dramatic backdrop to Cape Town and its Table Bay harbour, and together with Signal Hill form the natural amphitheatre of the City Bowl.
The highest point on Table Mountain is towards the eastern end of the plateau and is marked by Maclear's Beacon. It is 1,086 metres above sea level.


From the top of Table Mountain you can see Robben Island.

Robben Island was first inhabited thousands of years ago by stone age people, at a time when sea levels were considerably lower than they are today and people could walk to it. It was then a flat-topped hill.

But, due to dinosaur farts and global warming, the hill became an island.

Since the end of the 17th century, Robben Island has been used to isolate certain people — mainly prisoners — and amongst its first permanent inhabitants were political leaders from various Dutch colonies

Under the apartheid regime, Robben Island became a maximum security prison in 1959, and its character as an island-prison near to a major population centre invites comparisons with Alcatraz.

Between 1961 and 1991, over three thousand men were incarcerated here as political prisoners, often for decades, including the distinguished international statesman Nelson Mandela.



We were a long,

long,

long,

long,

way from home!