Table Mountain
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Table Mountain is a mountain in the Western Cape, South Africa, overlooking the greater Cape Town area. It forms part of the Table Mountain National Park and is flanked by Devil's Peak to the east and by Lion's Head and Signal Hill to the north.
Table Mountain is a famous landmark and tourist attraction in Cape Town, with many visitors using the cableway to take a ride to the top. The mountain is named for its flat top which is often covered by cloud, forming the "table cloth". It stands 1,086 m above sea level at its peak and the main face is approximately 3 km from side to side.
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In the 1800's several dams, including the Woodhead, Hely-Hutchinson and De Villiers reservoirs, were built on top of the mountain to supply Cape Town's water needs. A cable car descending to Camps Bay via Kasteelspoort ravine was constructed to ferry materials and manpower (the cable lift was removed long ago but the anchor points at the old top station can still be seen). In the 1960's there was also a well-preserved steam locomotive housed in a small shed at the top of the mountain near the Hely-Hutchinson dam. It had been used to haul materials for the dam across the flat top of the mountain. Cape Town's water requirements have since far outpaced the capacity of the dams and they are no longer an important part of the water supply.
The mountain formed part of the Cape Peninsula National Park in the 20th century. The latter changed its name to the Table Mountain National Park in 1998.
In 2006, a devastating fire ran through the mountain, destroying large amounts of vegetation and resulting in the death of a tourist. A charge of arson and culpable homicide was laid against a British man who was suspected of starting the blaze.
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Features
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The mountain's highest point is at Maclear's Beacon, named for a stone cairn built there in 1865 by Sir Thomas Maclear for trigonometrical survey. It is 1,086 m (3,563 ft) above sea level and is the highest point of the plateau at the summit, about 19 m above the cable station.
Most major features of the mountain are named. The cliff immediately below the cable station is called Arrow Buttress and the area at the opposite end of the main cliff is called "Ledges". About a third of the way along from Arrow Buttress is a deep and partially hidden ravine called Platteklip Gorge (lit. "Flat Stone Gorge"), which provides an easy ascent to the summit and was the route taken by Antonio de Saldanha on the first recorded ascent of the mountain (see History). A famous and dangerous feature is Carrell's ledge, which winds its narrow way across the face of a vast and sheer drop to the south of Devil's Peak. At one point the ledge is less than 200 mm wide.
Table Mountain is in the unique position of being the only terrestrial feature to give its name to a constellation — Mensa, meaning The Table. The constellation is seen in the Southern Hemisphere, below Orion, around midnight in mid-July. It was named by the French astronomer Nicolas de Lacaille during his stay at the Cape in the mid eighteenth century.
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The Table Mountain Cableway takes passengers from the lower cable station on Tafelberg Road, about 302 m above sea level, to the plateau at the top of the mountain. The upper cable station offers views overlooking Cape Town, Table Bay and Robben Island to the north, and the Atlantic seaboard to the west and south.
Construction of the cableway was first started in 1926, and the cableway was officially opened in 1929. In 1997, the cableway was extensively upgraded, and new cars were introduced carrying 65 instead of 25 passengers. The new cars gave a faster journey to the summit, and could rotate through 360 degrees during the ascent or descent, giving a panoramic view over the city.
Apart from the views, there are also curio shops, a restaurant and walking trails for visitors at the top of the mountain.
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Activities
Hiking
Hiking on Table Mountain is popular amongst locals and tourists, and a number of trails of varying difficulty are available. Because of the steep cliffs around the summit, direct ascent from the city side is difficult. Longer routes to the summit go via the Back Table, a lower area of Table Mountain south of the main plateau. There are paths to the Back Table from both the Atlantic and Southern Suburbs sides, and from there a number of paths make a gradual ascent to the summit.
Among the most popular routes are:
Hoerikwaggo Trail
Jeep Track a.k.a. the Bridle Path
Kasteelspoort
Nursery Ravine
Pipe Track
Platteklip Gorge
Skeleton Gorge
Rock climbing
Rock climbing on Table Mountain is a very popular pastime. There are well-documented climbing routes of varying degrees of difficulty up the many faces of the mountain. Only traditional climbing is allowed on Table Mountain; no bolting can be done. Commercial groups offer abseiling from the upper cable station.
Caving
Most of the world's important caves occur in limestone but Table Mountain is famous amongst speleologists for having several large cave systems that have formed in pure sandstone. The biggest systems are located on the Back Table, not far from the Jeep Track in ridges that overlook Orange Ravine and Hout Bay. These are often referred to as the Wynberg caves.
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One word to describe this place,
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