Table Top Mountain Hike – How You can Spend the Day
Are you considering a Table Top Mountain Hike? Do you wonder why so many people can’t wait to reach the top of this majestic mountain? Well, it’s the type of experience you can’t really put into words, because it’s just too magnificent. For everyone who hasn’t had the liberty of visiting Table Mountain yet, here is what you can expect to see and experience. [caption id="attachment_3206" align="aligncenter" width="625"] Table Mountain[/caption] The Table Mountain Cable Car That infamous cable car that takes visitors up and down the mountain has been operational since 1929. And since...
Decoration, pollination in the fynbos
On a spectacular clear summer day I was walking close to the top of Table Mountain when I noticed these beautiful metallic groove-winged flower beetles (Family Melyridae) on the flower of a Tinder Bush (Hermas villosa). While the plant has been used medicinally and practically for thousands of years very little is known about these beautiful jewel-like beetles. In addition to decorating the fynbos and brightening my day, they certainly seem to be likely candidates for pollinating these flowers....
Stormy Cape Town
Mid-winter has passed and the days are getting longer in Cape Town, but they are also getting (much) colder. It doesn't feel like those looooong hot summer days can ever penetrate this cold. However the winter storms do provide some beautiful sights and I took these photos on the way to start a walk. Here a morning squall flies across Table Bay dropping icy sleet on the city (and a sprinkling of snow on the mountain). And here is Table Mountain as the pot of gold at the end of a...
Surprises with the Norwegians
I went walking on Table Mountain with Elin from Get Africa Travel and some of her friends. I promised them a surprise (overraskelse), but even I was surprised by the unexpected surprises! First we saw our National Flower Protea cynaroides and Elin looked very surprised. Then we saw Disa graminifolia, the Blue Disa . . . and I was ecstatic. These flowers make me so happy. And then we were surprised by yet another orchid from the genus Disa - Disa ferruginea, the cluster disa. And finally we saw the surprise that I had promised...
The very best job in the world
Recently I guided a fantastic walk up Table Mountain with a group of Swedes. It was great fun to be with them because they were energetic and enthusiastic. They all work in the wine industry in a wonderful country so I thought they had a pretty good work life. I was therefore a little taken aback when at our lunch-stop, someone said to me "Wow! You have the very best job in the world". And as the day wore-on and we were treated to the sight of the very first Disa uniflora...
An adventure with David Livingstone
This week I enjoyed a peach of a day with David Livingstone - Seriously! His family came along as well, and his wife's name is Debbie - not Mary Moffat. He hails from New York rather than Scotland and he is not exactly a protestant missionary. You see this is a contemporary David Livingstone but nonetheless he was exploring Africa and we hiked in the Table Mountain National Park on a fat juicy perfect day. [caption id="attachment_2477" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A peach of a day in paradise[/caption] We were fortunate enough to see two...
November is the new Pink
In this floral wonderland that is currently my home I notice temporal patterns in the colours of the flowers. In mid-summer we have a predominance of red flowers and this is certainly correlated with the emergence of the Mountain Pride Butterfly (Aeropetes tulbaghia), which is attracted to the colour red. Right now as we pass from Spring into Summer I see the hills covered in beautiful flowers, with a definite preponderance of the colour PINK (or variations thereof - Cerise, Rose, Fuchsia, Magenta, Lavender). I went for a short walk this evening...
Half man, half goat – entirely flower
The Cape Peninsula is home to an astonishing number of indigenous plant species. It is believed that there are approximately 2,285 species on The Peninsula. Amongst this ridiculously large diversity of plants are over 100 species of orchids. Right now is the time for the members of the genus Satyrium. This genus is named after the mythological hedonistic Greek creature the Satyr, because it too has two horns in the form of spurs on the lip of the flower. Unlike the classic ostentatious flower that most people associate with orchids, the...
An Epitaph
I lost a friend a week ago. He was only 24 years old and full of passion and joy. I spent a long day on the mountain looking for him before his body was discovered and during that time it struck me just how fragile our lives are and how we have toviagra prescription uk seize every moment that is given to us. I think Robbie lived like that. I believe that he crammed more into his short 24 years than many people manage in three times more years. I...
Table Mountain throws it all at us
Gerd Spegel is an old guest and friend. I guided him twice on foot safaris in Zimbabwe and we had incredible adventures in the bush in those heady days past (and future!) Since he was passing through Cape Town we decided to catch-up while we walked up Table Mountain on one of the more obscure routes. As we started-out the weather was perfect; cool with high cloud and gorgeous Watsonias (Watsonia borbonica) brightening our way with Table Mountain in the background. However as we ascended the mountain the cloud descended and engulfed...
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