Cape Town, South Africa - Table Mountain

We've been admiring it since we arrived, now it's time to climb it - Table Mountain.

There are number of ways to do it. We decide to take the long option which takes us to the highest point, Maclear's Beacon. This is via the Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens.

We Uber it to the gardens, get a quick brief and some maps and off we go. The gardens are a tourist destination on their own, but we are told the hike takes about 4 hours and the cable car to get down is weather dependent, so we may have to hike back down - so we skip past the girls flowers and hit the base of the mountain at Smut's Track.

The climb is steep within the thick, lush forest. We realise we haven't done much exercise on this trip and it's caught up with us. Lots of big steps to climb, the legs are burning. In some spots there are ladders it's so steep! They caution to use at own risk, but there aren't any alternatives.

We approach a waterfall and the track fades away. We look around and follow a couple of half tracks to sheer rock face. Can't climb that. We look at the waterfall - no obvious path there. We're stumped. Maybe we missed an earlier path. We climb back down the ladders and meet some people coming up. They say they've done the hike before and the path is straight up the waterfall.... Ok, lead the way then.

We climb and get a little wet. It's much more treacherous than we anticipated. No safety rails to stop you from tumbling back down the rocky waterfall. We're becoming used to this in Africa though. It's great to see how untocuhed their natural wonders are. We make it through the waterfall surprisingly unscathed. The rest of the ascent is steep, but no more waterfall 'paths'.

We make it to the top and hit the highest peak. Total climbing time, 2 hours. It's windy and cold, but the 360 degree view is worth every huff and puff. We take a few snaps, admire the view some more then head for the cable car, which is at the opposite end of the mountain.

The walk across the top of the mountain is quite far and takes about an hour. Table Mountain certainly lives up to its name in that it's relatively flat for the most part. And dangerous. The path to the cable car is virtually only a few metres from the edge of the mountain.

We make it to the cable car in one piece and hop on. The cable car goes surprisingly fast, which we are glad for, seeing as the descent is pretty steep. We hop off the cable car and into a cab and grab a quick bite to eat on our way back to the loft, for a much needed rest.

Tonight is the night we finally say goodbye to our over landing friends, as most of them are either going home or heading off on their next adventure. We have dinner at another Mexican restaurant called Fat Cactus. It's has your usual Mexican fare, not as authentic as El Burro we had the other night, but it does the job.

We have a night cap at a nearby hostel/hipster bar. We order probably the worst beer we've tasted. Cape Town is new to the craft beer game and more often than not, it shows. We walk our friends back to their hostel, wish them well on their travels, then head home for bed.