monday, September 12, 2022

table mountain, paarl rock, lion’s head (sort of), signal hill, and views for days

The first official day of the trip started with a journey to the top of Table Mountain. We drove to the site, already taking in the beautiful scenery along the way before we even got to the mountaintop views. Worth saying now that we had absolutely incredible luck with weather on this whole trip. Outside of the pre-trip shark cancellation hiccup, every single day was impossibly blue skies and comfortable temperatures - couldn’t have asked for more. (Also, shoutout to Katherine who taught me the double-it-and-add-30 trick for converting Celsius to Fahrenheit. Total game-changer for quickly converting in your head!)

Enjoying the view from the window of our bus – we hadn’t even gotten there yet!

Spotted this in the background of one of my photos… was Jamie posing for the green screen?

The Table Mountain cable car is a quick (and impressive) way to get to the top of the mountain. It also slowly rotates on its way up and down, making sure everyone in the circular car can get a good 360° view.

Once at the top, we walked around as a group as Jamie gave us some intel on the city of Cape Town, the unique fynbos plants, the Atlantic, and the National Park itself. What a view!

The Cable Car on its way up, with Lion’s Head Mountain behind it

So many interesting plants in South Africa!

After enjoying our walk around the top of Table Mountain, we headed back to the cable car to get back down to the bus.

Harps was cold and put socks on her hands 👏

The trip down in the cable car. It moved fast!

Originally in the Flash Pack itinerary, this morning we were scheduled not just to see Table Mountain, but to abseil (rappel in American English) down it – the highest commercial abseil in the world. Unfortunately, less than a week before our trip there was some sort of government shake-up that affected the permitting of the company that runs the abseil, so it was completely and indefinitely shut down. Such a bummer!! That said, Jamie was able to find a different local place for us to abseil – not quite as high but definitely picturesque – so we got back on the bus to drive out to Paarl, a town in the wine country outside of Cape Town.

Here’s where I sing the praises of our friendly Cape Town bus driver Ebrahim. As this was a last-minute change to the itinerary, he and Jamie were figuring it out as we went, using GPS to find where we were going. Once we got out to Paarl, we started to drive up the mountain that would take us to the rock where we’d be abseiling. And it was a steep, winding drive with hairpin turns and a major drop-off. And honestly, we did a few adventurous things on this trip, but nothing struck fear in my stomach the way this drive did. I don’t think this tiny road was really meant for our not-tiny bus, and my heart was leaping out of my chest as we kept climbing higher, especially knowing we’d have no choice but to reverse back down. Hard pass!

But! Ebrahim handled it like a champ, and we got as far up the mountain as we could before it was just too dangerous— there was a big rock protruding into the road that definitely would’ve tipped us over. So Jamie called the abseil company who came down to get us in their cars. I have never been so happy to get off a bus. 😳

We didn’t stop here, but quickly drove past the colorful Malay neighborhood of Bo-Kaap in Cape Town. Such pretty buildings!

Hopped into the back of the abseil company’s pick-up truck to make the journey the rest of the way up the mountain. Much safer! 😅 And continuously gorgeous scenery.

Jamie and Britney somehow were the two left behind to wait for the next car trip. (That rock jutting in the road behind them was our stopping point – we never would’ve been able to drive over it on that curve!)

Once we got out, Ebrahim had no choice but to reverse back down the mountain until it was safe to turn around. (Very short video of this ⬆) Seriously, HEROIC.

Ultimately, we made it to the base of where we’d be abseiling and were given a briefing by Barry and Kim who run the operation. Abseiling aside, we all fell instantly in love with Kim’s new puppy Daisy. So cute!

After the quick briefing and a short history of the area (Paarl = Afrikaans for pearl, as Paarl Rock is round and shines when it gets wet), we walked up a hilariously steep granite hill to get to our starting point. I was glad I was wearing boots with traction!

Once at the top, we were met by the guys from Abseil Africa who talked us through the safety of what we were about to do. This was the same company who ran the Table Mountain abseil, so I was happy to see that they were still able to be in business at least somewhere if not there. We started to get into our harnesses and helmets, and off we went, two at a time down the mountain. So much fun!!

GoPro footage of my & Nichola’s abseil, taken from my helmet. Apologies for the stupid giggling, apparently I do that when walking down the side of a mountain.

At the bottom with Nichola and Amber, watching Dave (Amber’s fiancé) and Jason do their abseil

After a great time, we walked back down that steep hill to hop in Barry & Kim’s cars so we could drive down to meet Ebrahim, who thankfully had made it safely back down the mountain. Of course made sure to take in the the gorgeous scenery and some inevitable puppy time with Daisy.

Need to mention that Rachel abseiled in socks, which is pretty fabulous and very on brand.

Hopping back on the bus, we started to make our way back to Cape Town.

We passed by the Afrikaans Language Monument while driving through Paarl, which commemorates Afrikaans being declared an official language of South Africa separate from Dutch.

Since this whole part of the itinerary was a new and last-minute addition, we were running a bit behind schedule to make it to Lion’s Head, so instead of a sit-down lunch we swung by a shopping mall and picked up food at a South African healthy fast food chain called Kauai that we brought back to eat on the bus.

Come to the US, Kauai! I had a Thai chicken wrap and it was really excellent. I think everyone liked what they got.

Back in Cape Town, we made it to Lion’s Head Mountain where we were off to do a sunset hike to the top. Doing some research before the trip (you know I can’t help myself), this was one of the things I was most looking forward to. There’s a long ascending hike for a while, but then it turns into a real-life Ninja Warrior course with ladders, staples, boulders to climb over, and a challenging final climb to the peak. Couldn’t wait!

We started out up the hill, and I knew a few minutes in that there’s no way I could make it happen. I’m the first to acknowledge that I’m in lazy pandemic less-than-peak shape right now, but coming off of a summer of the intense Snatched 2 (shameless plug for my beloved Mark Fisher Fitness) I knew I could handle a hike like this with no problem. Unfortunately, the Covid I had had a month before the trip had other plans, and even though the rest of my body was ready to climb, my lungs were absolutely on fire and my heart rate was through the roof, and about 10 minutes into the walk I had to call it.

I can’t say I was surprised, as my lungs were still feeling achy from the previous day’s unexpected Kirstenbosch mini-hike, and from simply climbing up that granite hillside to get to the abseil earlier in the day (both indications I should’ve recognized, in hindsight, that maybe I wasn’t as past Covid as I thought I was), but it was truly disappointing to have to stop before getting anywhere near the fun part. I really loved Cape Town, so I’m taking it as a sign that I’ll need to go back when I’m in full health to do this climb!

There were a couple of benches along the path and I had every intention of just sitting there for a while, enjoying the view, and waiting for the group to come back down, but fellow Flashpacker Michaela generously agreed to sit the hike out with me (I think I’ve finally convinced myself that she genuinely wanted to stop and wasn’t just being nice haha), and we sat for a little bit before Jamie joined us and said he was going to take us by bus to Signal Hill, a nearby spot to watch the sunset.

I’m sure the view from the peak of Lion’s Head was spectacular, but this 1/3 of the way up view was not too shabby!

Arriving at Signal Hill, Jamie, Michaela and I found a spot to sit, relax, and watch the sun go down.

He had picked up little snack boxes and drinks (boxed wine, keeping it classy!), and we had ourselves a little picnic among the other people who had gathered, as well as some curious guinea hens who joined the party.

(The netting on the hill is traction for the paragliders who use it as a launch place during the day.)

These guys were hilariously loud

Michaela and I taking in the beautiful view of Table Mountain

And what a sunset it was!

Once the sun went down it got pretty chilly, so we headed back to the bus to drive back to the base of Lion’s Head and wait for the rest of our group to come back down the mountain. Turns out it took them a little longer than expected, as they didn’t intend to come down in the pitch black, and apparently it was pretty harrowing trying to navigate those ladders and boulders on the way back down with only a headlamp for guidance.

Feedback on Lion’s Head was a very mixed bag from the group – some said it was their favorite part of the trip, others were horrified. I’m still determined to do it one day!