Table Mountain Aerial Cableway

Cape Town, Western Cape

Nature

Table Mountain, an official New 7 Wonder of Nature, is one of South Africa’s premier tourist attractions. Table Mountain Aerial Cableway allows visitors to experience the best views of Cape Town as they travel to the top of Table Mountain. The Cableway has had three upgrades since its opening in 1929, with the most recent in October 1997. To date the Cableway has transported more than 22 million visitors to the summit of Table Mountain. Although more than 800 000 visitors from all over the world use the Cableway annually, queuing time is minimal due to the sophistication of the upgraded system.

The 65-passenger rotating cable car, imported from Switzerland and one of only three such cable cars in the world, runs from the lower station in Tafelberg Road to the top of Table Mountain. The floor rotates throughout the 5-minute ride to the top, giving everyone a 360? view. The round cable car offers excellent aerodynamics in Cape Town’s famous strong South Easter winds and uses the 4 000 litre water tank in the base as ballast during the windy season. Once on the top, there is a restaurant, souvenir shop and over 2km of pathways leading you to views over Cape Town, Table Bay, Robben Island, the Cape Flats and the Cape Peninsula. There are free guided tours daily at 10h00 and 12h00.

Table Mountain is famous for its extraordinary floral biodiversity, mainly fynbos, and has over 1 500 species of plants, roughly the same number as are found throughout the entire British Isles. Table Mountain National Park is the richest corner of the Cape Floristic Region and the richest single floristic area in the world. Visitors can expect to encounter dassies (rock hyrax) at the top of Table Mountain. The dassie is about 50cm in length and resembles a rabbit, but is in fact, anatomically, a close living relative of the elephant. Indigenous birds include the Black Eagle, Rock Kestrel and Sunbird. Not indigenous to the mountain, but certainly the most likely to be seen, are the Red-winged and Black-winged Starlings. Starlings nest on cliff faces, so they are right at home among the steep crags of Table Mountain.